NExSW Northeast By Southwest
by Crystal Blue Montana
Summary: AU Season 4.  A huge misunderstanding regarding Danny's ex drives Danny and Lindsay apart.  Danny is determined to fix their relationship, but finds that it won't be easy because Lindsay didn't just leave him, she left the lab... and New York.
1. Where Did You Go, My Lovely?

NExSW (Northeast By Southwest) Chapter 1

**A/N: My first multi-chapter fanfic! I actually decided to write this fic months ago, and somehow, I wrote **_**and**_** published my **_**Power Rangers Mystic Force**_** one-shot, "Thinking With His Heart," before I even finished the first chapter of this piece. I started this fic more or less to counterbalance the many fics out there in which Lindsay Monroe gets kidnapped, raped, beaten, and/or more or less abused. Think of this as a Marvel Comics "What If?", **_**CSI: NY**_**-style; title is a loose reference to the annual South By Southwest music festival in Austin, Texas.**

**Rating: T (for swearing and subject matter, subject to change)**

**Disclaimer: All **_**CSI: NY **_**canon characters are property of CBS. No infringement is intended. All OCs are mine. **

**Chapter 1: Where Did You Go, My Lovely?**

Adam Ross peered around the corner and saw Danny Messer walking his way. "Hey, Danny," he called, waving the sheet of paper he held.

"Are those my DNA results?" asked Danny. He reached out his hand and took the paper that extended from Adam's fingers. Danny skimmed over the readout. His eyebrows knitted together, and his mouth hardened into a firm line. His eyes grew hard as the hand that held the paper began to close tightly. "Son of a bitch," he muttered. He kept reading the report, and a smile began to spread across his face and he chuckled.

Adam was unnerved by Danny's rapid-fire changes in emotion and for a minute, he thought that the CSI was having a mental breakdown. "Um, uh, did I screw up something?" he finally asked.

Danny looked up, slightly startled. He addressed the nervous lab tech, "Nah, it's not you. You rock, man. Thanks." He gave Adam a light smack on the arm and continued on his way.

"You're welcome," called Adam. His shoulders slumped with relief.

o-o-o-o-o

Danny knocked on Mac Taylor's office door. When he heard "Come in" from inside, Danny turned the door handle and poked his head through the door.

Mac turned from his computer monitor. "Danny. What can I do for you?"

"Mac, have you seen Lindsay?" asked Danny as he stepped up to Mac's desk.

"You'll need to ask Perry Kenworth about her. You know that since she transferred to swing, I've got no details about her schedule or anything. Is everything okay?"

"Well, actually, she and I haven't been okay for a while now. I did find something to hopefully put us back on track, though."

Mac's brow wrinkled. "I thought I heard something about that; some old girlfriend of yours came back or something like that."

Danny grimaced. "I kinda don't wanna get into that right now. Can you tell me anything about where she might be?"

Mac thought for a minute. "No clue. And even if I knew, I think telling you would be a bad idea."

"Mac, you hurt me," said Danny. He clutched playfully at his chest.

"Need I remind you of your little trip to Bozeman a while back?"

"Oh, right." Danny rubbed at the back of his neck. "Yeah, well, you told me to go home after I finished my marathon of endless shifts, but you didn't tell me what to do after I got home."

Mac chuckled. "I suppose that's 'touche' then. Still, I can't have you running off after Lindsay every time she leaves town. I need you here, especially now that we're one down. Wait until she gets back."

"Thanks, Mac." Danny sighed and turned to leave Mac's office.

"Danny." Mac's voice was stern, but sympathetic. "Things will be fine. All you need is time."

o-o-o-o-o

Danny entered the locker room and sat down on the bench. He peered at the paper that Adam handed him, reading it again, as if the printed words might have changed from what they were when Adam handed it to him. The proof was there in black and white; the proof that would help bring Lindsay back to him and make him whole again. All he had to do was wait for her to return from wherever it was she went.

"Montana, I am so sorry about all of this, and I will spend the rest of my life making it up to you," whispered Danny to the paper in his hands. He looked up at the row of lockers in front of him, and all of a sudden noticed that the locker that had once been Aiden's, then Lindsay's, was empty. The nameplate that read "Monroe" had been removed from its spot on the metal door, and the door itself was ajar. Danny jumped up and slowly pushed the locker door open. The inside of the locker had been scrubbed clean; all of Lindsay's photos and knickknacks were gone. Danny felt something very heavy sinking in the pit of his stomach and his heart felt like it was slowly being shredded. He ran out of the locker room and down the hall into the elevator.

o-o-o-o-o

At 7:00 pm, Perry Kenworth had barely taken off his windbreaker when Danny rapped on the open door of his office. Perry turned and looked quizzically at Danny. "May I help you?"

Danny stepped nervously into Perry's office. "Hi, um, Perry? I'm Danny Messer, from the day shift?"

Perry smiled warmly. "Right, Messer. One of Taylor's people, right? What can I do you for, son?" A stocky man in his late 50's, Perry's voice was deep and amiable, with a hint of a drawl that suggested that his roots were somewhere in the American South.

Danny shifted his weight back and forth. "I was wondering if you could tell me where Lindsay Monroe is. I was just in the locker room, and her locker's been cleaned out."

Perry's smile wavered slightly. "Well, son, shut the door and have a seat, will you?" He motioned to the chair in front of his desk as he seated himself.

Perry's request made Danny even more nervous that he already was, but he complied.

"I can already tell this will probably be difficult for you, but Lindsay Monroe's no longer with the crime lab." Perry's smile remained, but his eyes betrayed the sadness within.

The news hit Danny like a bullet to the gut. "She's what? What happened?"

Perry put his hands up defensively. "Now, hold on there, son, let's not get all excited. It was nothing bad. She turned in her two weeks' notice, and Thursday was her last day."

Danny felt his chest tightening. He could not believe that Lindsay Monroe, his "Montana," had just left without warning. He managed to spit out, "Where did she go?"

Perry sighed. "I know this is difficult for you, Mr. Messer, but- "

"Danny. Please call me Danny."

"Danny." Perry's eyes softened. "Miss Monroe was adamant that I not divulge where she was going."

"Perry, please." Danny's blue eyes filled with tears. "Off the record, what can you tell me?"

Perry leaned forward, hands clasped. "You seem like a nice young man, Danny. I suppose I can tell you this much. She said that she felt that she no longer felt like she could work effectively in the lab. A relative of hers had helped her find a position out of state, and much as I hated to lose her, I thought that she looked like she could use the change of scenery, so I accepted her resignation."

At the words "out of state," Danny's eyes bugged out. "Whoa, wait a minute, there, Perry. You mean Montana's left New York, as in left New York State?" The feeling of being shot in the stomach gave way to that of being kicked in the head.

"Montana?" asked Perry, puzzled. "That a nickname you have for Miss Monroe?" When Danny nodded, a booming laugh escaped Perry's throat. "I like you, son! Montana... that's cute!" Perry's laughter faded. "But that's right; Miss Monroe has taken off for parts outside New York."

"Did she go back to Montana?"

"I'm not at liberty to tell you where exactly she's gone, but I know it wasn't to Montana. I'm sorry I couldn't be of more help."

It took all that Danny had in himself to not jump up and yell at Perry for not telling him any more than he did, but he knew that he was not in a position to demand anything. Almost completely deflated, Danny rose from his seat slowly and extended his hand to Perry. "Thank you, sir, for your help."

Perry nodded as he gripped Danny's hand in a strong handshake. "Take care, son. And good luck to you."

o-o-o-o-o

"Ladies and gentlemen, we have arrived at Bergstrom International Airport. The local time in Austin is 11:25 am, and the local temperature is 74 degrees. We ask that you remain seated until we have come to a full stop and the captain has turned off the 'fasten seat belt' sign. On behalf of our captain, Anthony M. Wagner, and all of the crew onboard, we thank you for flying Mid-America Airways and we welcome you to Austin, Texas. If Austin is not your final destination, we wish you a safe trip and hope that you reach your final destination safely."

Lindsay Monroe leaned her head back against the headrest, closed her eyes, and sighed. She was never a fan of flying, especially since it seemed that nearly every time she got on a plane, her life would be irrevocably changed. The first time was when she left Bozeman for New York City to pursue the big city life she had always wanted. The second time, she was returning to Bozeman to confront a demon that had disrupted her life in Bozeman and was threatening to disrupt her life in New York. When she boarded a plane for the third time in her life, she would never have believed that she would be returning to New York sitting next to city-boy-for-life Danny Messer.

Even after she told him that she needed her space, Danny had waited patiently for her. When Lindsay had sat up on the stand at the Gallatin County Courthouse, struggling to keep her composure, Danny had entered the courtroom and given her the strength to recall the events of the day that shattered her life and recite them for the jury. When the hammer of justice crashed down, sending one Daniel Katums to prison for the hell he had caused Lindsay and the families of her friends, Danny was sitting next to her, his hand entwined with hers. From that moment on, Danny had rarely left her side. About the only time that they would be apart would be when Mac assigned them to separate cases, but they made the effort to always find time to be together; whether it involved being curled up against him as they watched a movie, swapping stories over dinner, or falling asleep in Danny's bed with him after a blissful night of lovemaking. As the weeks lengthened into months, Lindsay thought that finally, her life was perfect.

And then _she_ sashayed back into his life and ruined it all. Lindsay felt the teardrops forming under her lashes and quickly wiped them away. _No, don't think about that_, she chided herself. _Danny obviously made his choice, and it's not you. Just forget him. You're in Austin now._

_Ping_. The "fasten seat belt" light blinked off, and all throughout the cabin, seat belts were undone, the "clickety-click" sound like a chorus of uncoordinated tap dancers. Lindsay unclasped her own seat belt and stood up, waiting for several people to pass her before stepping into the aisle and reaching up to pull her carry-on bag from the overhead compartment. She shuffled along behind the passengers in front of her. She ignored the flight attendants who stood at the aircraft doors, cheerily bidding goodbye to everyone as they passed. As Lindsay emerged from the jetway doors, she looked around.

"Lindsay!" A tall young man with shaggy brown hair waved at Lindsay. He strode forth briskly, and before Lindsay knew it, he had wrapped his arms around her and had swung her around. "Lindsay Monroe, you haven't changed!" The young man set Lindsay back on her feet and held her out at arm's length. "Let me look at you. You look great, but didn't they feed you in New York?" He shook his head.

Lindsay laughed and swatted the young man playfully on the chest. "Screw you, Rich. You look great, too." She reached up and rumpled his hair. "And what the heck is this?"

Rich smirked. "Thought I'd try growing it out for a change. You like?"

Lindsay winked at Rich. "I do, actually. Didn't think it'd be all wavy like that. Kind of cute, actually." She sighed and reached out to embrace Rich again. "It is so nice to see you again."

"I know. We have so much catching up to do. Let's go get your stuff." Rich held out his arm, bent at the elbow, and Lindsay took hold. Together, they marched happily towards the baggage claim.

o-o-o-o-o

Rich shook his head. "No way! What an asshole." He drained the last of his cappuccino.

Lindsay shrugged. "Yeah. But you know what? I'm not here to talk about him. I'm here to get away from all that and start again, and hopefully, it'll finally be for good. I want to find out why you love this city so much. After you sent me that e-mail back then about not ever coming back to Montana, I knew that Austin had to be something really special for you to change up what we said that we'd do."

"I know. I hoped that I'd eventually get the chance to show you what it's like here. It's definitely a really happening place, but it still has a bit of that small town feel. I don't know if I could do L.A. or New York anymore." Rich leaned back in the booth.

"New York was fun for the most part. You should at least visit it once or so," said Lindsay. "We should do that sometime, take in a show or something. I might even introduce you to my old friends at the lab. Well, all except for him."

Rich smirked. "I thought you weren't going to talk about him."

Lindsay balled up a napkin and at threw it at Rich. "Shut up." She sighed, then grinned sheepishly. "You're absolutely right. So let's get out of here, and you can show me what I'm getting myself into."

Rich nodded, wiped his mouth on his napkin, and slid out of the booth. "Let's go." After he paid the cashier at the front, he and Lindsay stepped out into the street.

Lindsay looked all around her, at this part of the new city that she would call home. "So where to first?" she asked.

Rich answered, "Well, since we're right here, let's get you acclimated to your new workplace." He pointed at the street corner two blocks away.

"Let's go!" Lindsay smiled. Across the street was the campus of the University of Texas, where the gilded faces of the clock tower kept watch over the students and faculty that milled about the grounds. She looked down at her right hand, curled her middle and ring fingers down to tuck under her thumb tip, then held up her hand thus, with index and pinky fingers standing straight up. "Is this right?"

"You catch on fast, cuz!" Rich smiled and raised his own hand in the same gesture. "Hook 'Em Horns!"

_Reviews are much appreciated; Chapter 2 is in progress!_


	2. Tattered and Shattered

NExSW (Northeast By Southwest) Chapter 2

**A/N: The infamous Cindy referenced in Season 2 makes an appearance here. I kind of molded her into what I wanted her to be for the sake of this story. Also, I'm toiling under the assumption that Danny's father was pretty much not a part of his son's life. Any similarities to any other characters in existing D/L fanfic are purely coincidental.**

**Rating: T (there's a bit more naughty language in this one, ladies and germs!)**

**Disclaimer: All **_**CSI: NY**_** characters are the property of CBS. I'm kind of borrowing them without permission, but I will return them when I'm done with them. Promise. (looks sideways at Danny) OCs are mine, though I really don't want to keep Cindy.**

**Chapter 2: Tattered and Shattered**

Cindy Hardin held up different tops to see which one would go with the denim skirt she had picked out. She sighed and was thinking how tiresome it was at times to primp and pretty herself up, when a knock on the door of her apartment interrupted her reverie.

"Door, mama!" chirped a young child's voice.

"Yes, Jake honey, that's the door!" Cindy responded cheerfully. She peered out the peephole, then unlocked the door. She swung it open to reveal Danny standing in the hallway. His face was grim, and he carried a small garbage bag.

"Danny." said Cindy. "I wasn't expecting you until later. What brings you around here?"

"Cindy, I need to talk to you. Alone." Danny hoped that Cindy was indeed alone, but the "Hi Daddy!" from Jake made him wince inside. Danny crouched down to the toddler's level. "Heya, sport, how you doing?" he asked in a considerably milder tone that he had used with Cindy. Jake responded by throwing his arms around Danny's neck. In spite of himself, Danny returned the little boy's embrace. Danny stood up and looked over at Cindy. His voice hardened once again. "Cindy, now. Call Mrs. Thorn or put Jake in his room, but I have to talk to you alone."

"All right, all right," groaned Cindy. "Keep your pants on. For now, anyway." She scooped up Jake and cooed, "Honey, go play in your room while Daddy and I have a talk, okay?" After Jake was properly plied with toys, Cindy shut the bedroom door and turned her attention back to Danny. "What on earth is so important that you have to talk to me right now?" She slipped her arms around Danny's neck.

"Get off me," snapped Danny, pushing Cindy's hands off him. "How long did you think you could get away with it?"

Cindy's smile vanished, and she shifted uncomfortably. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Danny's eyes blazed behind his glasses. "I'm talking about Jake, Cindy. I did a DNA test on him. He's not mine!" Danny retrieved the paper that Adam had given him from his pocket. "You led me on all this time, making me think I was Jake's father! I thought I was doing right by him, and by you, and it was all a lie!" As he spoke, he shook the DNA test results at Cindy.

Cindy's eyes were round. "I really did think that Jake was yours! We slept together at about the time he would have been conceived!" Her eyes narrowed. "Wait. You did a DNA test without consulting me? How did you do that?"

Danny folded his arms. "Doesn't matter how, but it proves I'm not Jake's father!"

"Maybe the test is wrong."

Danny shook his head incredulously. "I don't freakin' believe this. Look at this! The test is 99.997 percent positive! There's no way it's wrong!" He shook the paper at Cindy. "So what was it, huh? You knew I worked messed up hours, but you still wanted to date me, and then what, you sleep with other guys when I got called in?" He started to pace the room, all the while glaring at Cindy.

Tears rolled down Cindy's face, leaving trails of black through her thick makeup. "Maybe I did sleep with one or two other guys when we were together, but I didn't think that either one of them - "

"Oh, bullshit!" Danny's sudden expletive made Cindy jump, as did his throwing down the garbage bag he held. "Any one of them could just as well be Jake's father, but you never considered it, did you? I should have done the fuckin' test sooner. Maybe if I did..." His thoughts trailed to Lindsay, and he felt the tears coming again. He closed his eyes and exhaled hard. "Maybe if I did, Lindsay would still be here."

"Are you _still_ going on about her? Come on, Danny," sniffed Cindy, "she was so plain and nothing - "

"Don't you talk about her like that! She was and is more of a woman than you'll ever be! And because of you and that bastard child of yours - "

"How dare you refer to Jake like that!" Cindy's hand whipped out and smacked against Danny's cheek.

Danny gritted his teeth at the stinging in the side of his face, his fists clenching to keep himself from touching where Cindy had slapped him. "You don't get it, do you? Say what you want, but the DNA proves that Jake is _not my son!_" Danny blustered, "I don't know whose, and I really don't care anymore, which is too bad, because he's a sweet kid. I suppose he gets that from his dad." Danny leaned up against the door. "So what was it? Looking to mooch off me because I'm better off than all your loser boyfriends?"

"It wasn't like that! Jake needs a daddy, and I really thought you _were_ his daddy, but when you stopped taking my calls, I started trying to talk to the other guys, but they weren't having it either. I figured I could just go ahead and do the single mom thing. Then one day, Christine said she saw you out with Lindsay, and I just had to see for myself; such a hottie like you deserves to have a beautiful family with a beautiful lady and a beautiful child, not some plain, ugly - "

Danny advanced menacingly on Cindy. "I swear, if you spout anymore shit about Lindsay, so help me, God, I'll - "

"You'll what?" Cindy snapped back.

Danny stopped. "You know what? I'm done." Danny pointed to the garbage bag he had brought with him. "That's all the crap you and Jake have left at my place. I'm done with you, and I'm done with him. Don't ever come around my place again. I'm going to have my locks changed as soon as possible, and I'm taking out a restraining order. And don't try to pull anything screwy on me, because you know that I get paid to see through shit like that." Danny flung open the door and slammed it behind him as he stormed out.

Cindy stared at the door in disbelief, then she sank to the floor. More tears trailed dark eyeliner and mascara down her cheeks as she wept. The sound of Jake crying in his room made her rush to see what was causing her son's distress. She bent down and gathered Jake into her arms. "Baby, are you okay? Are you hurt?" she managed to ask.

"Want Daddy," cried Jake.

Cindy clutched Jake to her chest. "Me too, honey. Me too." She carried Jake to her room and laid him on her bed, keeping her arms wrapped tightly around him. Mother and son cried themselves to sleep.

o-o-o-o-o

Danny unlocked the door of his apartment and wearily stepped inside. He shed his jacket and button-down shirt, got himself a beer from his refrigerator, and sank down onto his couch. He removed his glasses, placing them on the coffee table, then threw his head back, his eyes closed. The turmoil of the last two days washed over him, and he felt the tears welling up again. This time, he let them fall freely.

_Why didn't I fight harder for her?_ he asked himself. _Why did I just let her leave?_ Lindsay had tried to cope with Cindy blowing into their lives with Jake in tow and insisting that Danny was the boy's father. Danny, not wanting Jake to know the hurt of not having his father around, the same way he did, started to indulge every request that Cindy made of him to spend time with the child, never realizing how she was including herself into the time that Danny spent with Jake and never realizing that Cindy was shoehorning herself in between him and Lindsay. Lindsay would put on a good face as the "happy family" made play dates and took outings to the park, but afterwards, she would complain bitterly about having to play second fiddle to the busty redhead. He had waved off her concerns and even, after one particularly exhausting day at the zoo, snapped at her for being a poor sport. Only now, and after that awful day, did he realize, too late, that Lindsay was right…

_(Flashback)_

_Danny, Cindy, and Jake had gone up to Danny's apartment because Danny had wanted to change his shirt after Jake had spilled grape juice on it. Danny retreated to his bedroom and yanked off his T-shirt._

"_Ooh, sexy," purred Cindy, who had followed Danny into his room. She laid a sleeping Jake onto Danny's bed._

"_Cut it out," muttered Danny._

"_Oh, but you are. I've missed you, Danny. I missed us." said Cindy. She sidled up to him and stroked a finger over his bare chest._

"_Will you stop that? I may be Jake's father, but that doesn't mean that you and I are getting back together. We'll work out something, but I'm with Lindsay now. Don't forget that." He pushed Cindy's hand off him and took a fresh T-shirt from his dresser._

_Cindy sniffed. "Oh, please. You and Little Miss Country Mouse? What has she got that I haven't?"_

"_Cindy, just shut up. You don't know Lindsay at all." Danny poked his head through the top of his T-shirt and stuck his arms through the sleeves. He stepped past Cindy into the kitchen. He bent down into the refrigerator to retrieve a bottle of water. When he stood back up, he saw that Cindy had followed him and was now standing very close to him. He narrowed his eyes. "What?"_

_Cindy pushed herself closer to Danny, forcing him to back up against the kitchen wall. "Don't you think it's time you, me, and Jake made it official? You can do better than Lindsay."_

"_Are you kidding me?" said Danny incredulously. "How many times do I have to tell you that I'm only interested in making sure Jake's got a daddy; you and I are – " Danny's tirade was cut off by Cindy's arms crushing herself to him and her lips locking onto his. Caught completely by surprise, Danny took two seconds to get his bearings and wrestle Cindy off of him. He very quickly discovered that it was two seconds too long, having suddenly become aware of Lindsay standing just inside the doorway of his apartment. Her brown eyes were rimmed with red as tears fell from them. She shook her head, muttering, "I knew it," before turning tail and fleeing from the apartment._

"_Lindsay!" Danny extricated himself from Cindy's arms and pushed her away. He ran out the open door of his apartment and looked both ways down the hall. Lindsay had run exceptionally quickly, because there was no sight of her. He sighed exasperatedly, only to jump when he felt a hand on his arm. He turned, hoping to see Lindsay, but saw only Cindy. He glared at her and growled, "I'm going after Lindsay, and when I get back, you and Jake had better be out of here!"_

_(end flashback)_

Ever since that day three months ago, things had rapidly gone downhill. First came the ignored knocks on her door, and the screened phone calls. After that, he began to notice that he never worked any crime scenes with her anymore, as if Lindsay had asked Mac to specifically not put them together. Then came the day when Stella had shown up at his apartment to retrieve Lindsay's belongings. After Danny had a large floral spray delivered to the lab with an "I'm sorry" card attached to it, he was crushed to find it stuffed upside-down in the garbage and crushed even further when he learned that Lindsay had requested a transfer to the swing shift. He would try to stay past his shift end just to get a glimpse of her when her shift started, but when she noticed what he was doing, she began ducking him again. Now, she was gone to who knows where.

Danny didn't know why he didn't immediately take action when Flack asked him one day, "How do you know that Jake is really your kid?" He really had no reason to think that Cindy had been duplicitous in any way, but as the days passed and his relationship with Lindsay continued to unravel, he began to wonder if Flack was onto something. Getting the DNA sample was easier than he'd imagined; the day after Danny decided he would have Jake tested, he found Jake sucking on a lollipop when he met Cindy and Jake at the park. After the boy had finished his candy, Danny carefully wrapped up the lollipop stick for Adam to run the test. When the test came back proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was not Jake's father, Danny immediately started brainstorming about just how he was going to get Lindsay to finally listen to him and accept his apology. Of course, all that went south when Perry had told him about her resignation from the crime lab. Danny had rushed to Lindsay's apartment building, hoping that he could catch her before she was gone for good, but it was not to be. As he walked to the subway station, the sorrow at losing Lindsay stepped aside in favor of rage at Cindy and pity for Jake, and it built with each step he took, climaxing with the blow-up at Cindy's place.

Now, the anger that Danny felt was directed solely at himself. He cursed himself audibly and chucked the beer bottle at the far wall. The bottle fragmented into bits against the cinderblock wall and sprayed its contents all over. He dropped his head into his hands and let the tears overwhelm him. His chest actually ached, as if his heart had been scooped out piece by piece with a teaspoon until there was no more. After what felt like hours, Danny finally pushed himself up from his couch to pick up the bits of broken beer bottle from the floor. He shuffled numbly towards the wall, inadvertently bumping against the pool table in the middle of the room. As he looked down at the felt of the pool table, he recalled the first night that he and Lindsay made love on top of it. The empty achy feeling in his chest returned, and he climbed on top of the pool table, sprawling himself on his stomach over the rough surface as if to reabsorb any vestige of Lindsay having been there. Succumbing to the fatigue of the day's events, Danny fell into a deep dreamless sleep.

_Thanks to everyone who has been reading, and to those who have reviewed! This new author feels honored._

_Next chapter: Lindsay's crashing at Rich's, and is Danny headed for a different sort of crash?_


	3. Rock My World

NExSW (Northeast By Southwest) Chapter 3

**Thanks to everyone who has read and reviewed! It's very much appreciated!**

**A/N: I apologize if the names of the couple you are about to meet sound a lot like those you might have seen on an infomercial; I really wanted those names for my own reasons. The lyrics to Rich's song are all original; they are not taken from any existing song that I know of, and I also apologize if they seem cheesy.**

**Danny's foul mouth keeps marching on in this chapter... but I guess we can't blame him, can we?**

**All **_**CSI: NY**_** characters are property of CBS. OCs are mine, especially Rich. (grabs Rich and runs like heck)**

**Chapter 3: Rock My World**

Rich unlocked the front door of his condo. "Here we are. It's not much, but it's home."

Lindsay stepped inside the front door and looked around. "Are you kidding? This place is huge compared to my apartment in New York! I don't even think Uncle Freddy's place is this big."

Rich laughed. "How is Uncle Freddy?"

"I finally got to see him a couple of days ago. I hadn't seen much of him before that, because of my screwy schedule at the lab. He's doing great, and he says hi. So, show me where I'm crashing."

Rich led Lindsay to a small room just beyond the den. "Don't mind my junk," he said sheepishly. Stacks of notebooks, CD cases, and loose sheet music sat haphazardly on the floor, and a guitar case rested on a sleeper sofa on the rear wall of the room. Rich lifted the guitar case from the sleeper sofa. "I hope this is okay with you."

"Yeah, fine," said Lindsay absently, suddenly interested in the stack of CD cases. She picked one up and her eyes got wide. "Richard Peter Alexander, what is this?" She held up the CD case, whose insert was a snapshot of Rich sitting on a bar stool, a guitar perched on his lap.

"My first CD. I just got those pressed," said Rich. "It's just a small indie label, and I take those to my shows to sell afterwards. You can keep that one if you want."

"Thanks!" Lindsay giggled. "Wow, my cousin, the rock star! Will I have to be beating the groupies off with a bat for you?" She plopped her travel bag onto the sleeper sofa.

Rich laughed, turning slightly pink. "Sure, if the five people who just happened to be at the bookstore café that I was playing at last night count as groupies. Seriously, though, I love playing the small venues around town. It's awesome connecting with the people afterwards, and you sure can't do that if you're some big time star." A knock sounded on the front door. "Oh, hey, let me get that." He set the guitar case on the floor and went to the front door to greet his visitors.

Lindsay followed Rich and watched as he opened the door to a tall beefy ponytailed man in sunglasses and a shorter Asian woman with long burgundy-streaked hair. The three exchanged warm greetings and hugs before Rich looked behind him and saw Lindsay.

"Hey y'all," said Rich, "This is my cousin Lindsay, just in from New York City. Linds, this is Mick and his wife Midori. They're in my band. I invited them over to have them check out a song I wrote."

"Hi," Midori chimed in, extending her hand to Lindsay. "Midori. Nice to meet you."

Lindsay shook Midori's hand, then reached for Mick's outstretched hand. "Mick Brancott. Pleasure's mine," said Mick. "So you're the CSI cousin from New York. Richie's told us a lot about you."

"All lies," joked Lindsay. She poked Rich's arm, which made Midori giggle.

"So what brings you out to the Texas Hill Country?" asked Mick.

"I'm going to be teaching at UT, starting next semester," answered Lindsay. "College of Natural Sciences, lower division organic chemistry."

"Ooh, nice," Midori said wistfully, "I wanted to be a chem major."

"Wanted?"

"Yeah, but my mom pretty much steered me into the accounting program," answered Midori. "She said it was a good major for a young lady. Yeah, that worked out." She rolled her eyes.

"Parents. What can you do?" Lindsay switched the subject. "So are you and Mick full-time musicians?"

"Not really," answered Mick. "We've got day jobs; I work for DLC Computers, and she works for Cat Hollow Builders. We do spend a lot of our free time practicing and playing. For a while, it was with various acts, but for the last couple of years, we've been playing almost exclusively with Richie." Mick hooked a thumb through one of the belt loops of his jeans. "He's just fantastic."

"Okay, you can just stop right there." Rich beamed. "Seriously, thanks, man. So anyway, let me grab my guitar and I can play that song and see what you think." He retreated to the room where Lindsay would be staying in.

Lindsay couldn't stop smiling. "Even though he's always been great at the guitar, I'm still a bit bowled over about the CD. Are you guys on it, too?"

"Yep," answered Mick. "Recording it was a lot of hard work, but it was a lot of fun, too. It wasn't easy, having to juggle our work schedules with the times that Richie could get the studio, but we're just glad to have been part of it."

"There was a stretch where I said to Mick as a joke that perhaps we should just quit our jobs just to help Rich get the CD finished," Midori added. "While I think being a full-time musician would be a lot of fun, we've invested too much of ourselves at work to make that leap."

Rich re-entered the room, with his guitar at the ready. He plunked himself down on the floor and started picking at the strings. Lindsay, Mick, and Midori sat down on the couch across from him. "I call it 'Big Sky Firebird,' and it kind of came to me when Lindsay called me and told me that she was moving down here," he explained. He began to sing:

_Rise from the ashes and ruins,_

_Rise and take flight,_

_Spread your wings over the storied lake_

_And let your fire re-light,_

_Beautiful big sky firebird,_

_Plumage of burnt orange and blue,_

_Let's fly high through the starry sky,_

_Show the world there's nothing we can't do._

Lindsay's eyes misted over as she recognized the meaning behind Rich's lyrics. She bit her lip to try and keep the tears in check, but the effort was futile, and the salty rivulets began their descent down her face. Midori looked over at Lindsay and mouthed the words, "What's wrong?" to which Lindsay shook her head and smiled. Midori reached her arm around Lindsay and let her lean on her shoulder. Lindsay brushed the tears from her face with her fingertips as she listened to Rich finish out his song.

Mick exhaled a long slow breath. His eyes were wide. "Wow. That was great, man."

"Rich, that was beautiful," breathed Midori. "I think you're going to make me cry, too."

"Aw, are you kidding me?" joked Mick. "I can't take you anywhere without you crying over everything."

"Shut up." Midori shoved Mick playfully.

Rich chuckled at Mick and Midori, looked at Lindsay and said, "I hope you liked it, Linds. It tore me up not being there in New York when you really needed me, and I guess this is my way of saying that I'm sorry for that. But you're here now, so it'll be just like when we were kids."

"Thank you," whispered Lindsay. She jumped up off the couch and threw her arms around Rich, who pushed his guitar aside so he could return her hug. She suddenly felt like she was fourteen years old again; just she and her cousin and best friend standing tall, two wide-eyed kids feeling like they could take on the world. Better still, even though she would only be staying with Rich until she found her own place to live, Lindsay Monroe, for the first time in months, finally felt like she was home and safe.

o-o-o-o-o

Danny awoke to near-complete darkness and the sound of thumping on his door. He rolled over and off the pool table, crash-landing on the floor. Muttering curses, he let his eyes adjust to the darkness of the room before he found his service weapon and approached the door slowly. He carefully unlocked the door and cracked it open, pointing his gun towards the hall. Relaxing once he saw who had been responsible for interrupting his sleep, he mumbled, "Come in." He opened the door wider and flicked on the light, cursing sudden assault on his eyes.

Don Flack and Sheldon Hawkes stepped into Danny's apartment. "Holy crap," cursed Flack, looking Danny up and down. "You look like hell, Dan-o."

"Danny, where were you today?" asked Hawkes. "Mac was seriously on the warpath today when you didn't show up at the scene and then when you didn't call in."

Danny's response was to lay his gun on the coffee table, march into the kitchen, and extract a beer from the fridge. He twisted the top off, then swallowed the contents of the whole bottle before he finally spoke. "And that affects me how?"

Fire blazed in Hawkes' eyes as he stalked into the kitchen. He grabbed Danny by the straps of his tank top and stood nose to nose with him. "I can't believe you," Hawkes snarled. "We're already shorthanded, and Mac was pretty pissed about sending Adam out in the field to cover for you. I know that you're torn up about Lindsay leaving, but don't take it out on the rest of us."

"Wait, you knew about Lindsay leaving?" asked Danny. "You fuckin' knew? Why the fuck didn't you tell me? I thought you guys were my friends!"

"We _are_ your friends," answered Flack. He entered the kitchen and looked at Hawkes, who slowly released Danny's shirt. Flack clapped his hand onto Danny's shoulder and steered him back into the living room. He pushed Danny down onto the couch – _plop_ – and remained standing, his arms folded. "We're also Lindsay's friends, and she specifically asked all of us not to tell you that she was leaving; me, Hawkes, Mac, Stell, Angell, Adam, Sid. That hurt's gotta run deep if she didn't even want you to know she was leaving." Flack exhaled hard. "It was so bad that Stell and Angell took her out shopping, she and Adam went to a whole bunch of movies, and she couldn't, or wouldn't, enjoy any of it because all she could think about was how you were out with Cindy and Jake playing happy family, and it made her sick that after all that you and she went through, you could just put her second because you knocked Cindy up a while back."

"I didn't knock her up," mumbled Danny.

"What do you mean, you didn't knock her up?" Hawkes was incredulous.

Danny glowered at Hawkes. "Did I stutter? Sorry, man, sorry." He rubbed his eyes. "I finally had Jake tested. He's not mine." He tipped his head back against the couch.

Hawkes' eyes became wide, and his mouth dropped open. Flack's expression mirrored Hawkes'. "Whoa. Does Cindy know?"

"She does now," answered Danny. "She says she really did think that Jake was mine, but it doesn't matter if she was lying or telling the truth. I'm done with the both of them. I need another beer." He moved to rise from the couch, but Flack stepped forward, put his hand on Danny's shoulder, and sat down next to him.

"I don't think you need any more beer. Hawkes, see if he's got any water in the fridge." As Hawkes went to rummage in Danny's fridge, Flack turned his attention back to Danny.

"You know what the worst part of all this is, besides Lindsay not being here anymore?" asked Danny. "It's that Cindy didn't even think about reconnecting with me even after Jake was born, not until some friend of hers told her about me and Lindsay." Danny pinched the bridge of his nose. "I'm surprised that I didn't actually beat the crap out of Cindy for all the shit she was spewing about Lindsay, saying she was ugly and plain, and all sorts of other crap."

Hawkes re-entered the living room and held out a bottle of water to Danny, who slammed back the majority of it. "It's obvious Cindy has no real self-esteem. If she did, we wouldn't be here right now." Hawkes leaned himself against the armrest of the couch. "Hey, I'm sorry I got all up in your face like that just now. It was rough having to work the scene by myself until Adam was able to come give me a hand, and then to hear Mac snapping at everyone because none of us knew where you were. I hadn't heard Mac that angry since the dead girl on the subway."

"No, man, I'm sorry. I was a real asshole. So Mac was really that pissed?" asked Danny. Upon seeing Hawkes nod, he winced. "Holy shit. He's going to have my ass on a pole." He slid down the couch until he was flat on his back.

"I know he was trying to call you trying to find you earlier," continued Hawkes. "But, yeah, Mac's not happy with you right now and I know he's left you a few messages. You should probably check your phone."

"Damn it. I'm not in the mood to check my messages."

Flack picked up Danny's cell phone from the coffee table. "You don't mind, do you?" he asked.

"Go ahead," answered Danny.

Flack flipped open Danny's cell phone, dialed up the voicemail system, and listened intently. Twice during this period, he winced and held the phone away from his ear, betraying Mac's angry voice emanating from the earpiece. Though Danny couldn't discern exactly what Mac was saying, he figured that he knew the gist of what was being said. After what seemed to be an eternity, Flack pressed the disconnect button and closed the phone. "I'd say you're in pretty deep. Mac wants to see you first thing in the morning. Miss out, and he'll have your badge."

"Aw, man." Danny stared straight up at the ceiling. "I'm hosed for sure."

"Don't say that," Flack cut in. "Mac didn't say you were fired."

Danny looked up at Flack. "Not yet, but he might as well have. And if Mac doesn't fire my ass himself, Gerrard will probably make him do it."

"Nah, you know Mac and Stell would typically have your back. But I wouldn't push my luck if I were you. You'd better go see Mac first thing tomorrow, like the message says."

"Hey, Danny." Hawkes stood up, placing his hand on Danny's shoulder. "I've got to go. You need anything, you call me, okay?" Danny nodded. "Take care, Flack." Hawkes gave Danny's shoulder one final pat and left for home.

"See you, Hawkes," Flack called out. He turned his attention back to Danny. "You want me to crash here tonight?

Danny paused, then nodded slowly. He looked over at Flack and asked, "Do you know where she went?"

Flack sighed. "I really don't know. I just know that she went out of state. Come on." He pulled Danny up from the couch and nudged him towards his bedroom. After Danny fell face first onto his bed, falling asleep almost immediately, Flack shut the bedroom door and padded back to the living room. He divested himself of his sport jacket and tie, loosened the top two buttons on his shirt, and threw himself back onto the couch. He picked up the TV remote control from the coffee table and tried to lose himself in flipping through the channels, but quickly lost interest. Pulling his cell phone from his pants pocket, he flipped it open and began to tap out an e-mail message. He felt a small pang of guilt as he sent the following message through his mobile Hotmail:

_To NYCcowgirl at hotmail dot com_

_Fr FlackDJ2 at hotmail dot com_

_How's Texas treating you so far? Danny really feels awful about everything. You sure you're done with him? He has something important that I think you need to hear._

_Don_

Flack sighed. He hadn't wanted to lie to Danny, but he remembered his younger days, having to comfort his sister, Madeline, after she had gone through the trauma of discovering that the sweet faithful boy she had been dating was not as sweet and definitely not as faithful as had been first thought. Flack had felt especially bad about the whole ordeal, because the young man had been a close friend of his, and he apologized to Madeline for introducing them in the first place, but she was quick to forgive him because she understood that he, too, had been duped by the duplicitous snake.

From that moment on, Flack had vowed that he would never let anyone hurt any woman he cared about ever again. Stella hadn't given him the chance to make good on his vow when she had to kill Frankie after he had held her hostage, but when Lindsay had shown up at his apartment the night Cindy had thrown herself at Danny, eyeliner-stained tears painted down her cheeks, he saw his second chance, letting her cry it all out on his shoulder and crash on his couch. Though he was definitely angry at Danny for neglecting Lindsay to the point he did, he decided that he would not let himself get dragged into their quarrel, instead pledging his tacit support to each of them. This included promising Lindsay that he would not tell Danny or anyone else about her new job at the University of Texas, much less leaving the crime lab in the first place.

Flack set his phone to silent mode, clapped it shut, and laid it on the coffee table. He unbuckled his shoulder holster and set it next to his phone, where it was soon joined by his wallet and keys. Kicking off his shoes, he stretched himself out over the length of the couch, folded his hands behind his head, and sighed heavily, wondering how long he could keep his secret from Danny.

_I had to reformat the e-mail message from Flack to Lindsay because ff dot net is finicky like that._

_Next: Just how much trouble is Danny in? Lindsay makes a new friend._


	4. You've Got A Friend

NExSW (Northeast By Southwest) Chapter 4

**A/N: I don't know why I like twisting the knife in Danny's wound as I pour salt in it… and I apologize for taking so long between chapters. The conversation between Danny and Mac just didn't come to me immediately, and took a while to get right. Not only that, but I was also interrupted by the "need" to jot down a holiday one-shot for my other ship.**

**Many thanks to everyone who has read, and to those who have reviewed!**

**Disclaimer: All **_**CSI: NY**_** canon characters are the property of CBS. All original characters are mine. You are welcome to look, but please don't touch the merchandise. ;)**

**Chapter 4: You've Got A Friend**

Danny nervously knocked on the open door of Mac's office. Mac looked up. His expression was grim as he instructed Danny to shut the door. Danny complied, then sat down in the chair in front of Mac's desk.

Mac cleared his throat. "Danny, I must say I'm very disappointed in you. I don't think I can recall any time in the past where you've just blown off your job the way you did."

"Mac, I'm sorry. I've had a lot on my mind lately."

"We all have a lot on our minds." Mac leaned forward. "You've always been a good investigator, and I always appreciate the effort you put into your job, and yesterday was completely not what I've come to expect from you. What was it about this time that you wouldn't even answer your phone?"

Danny's attempt to keep his composure was failing rapidly, and he removed his glasses and looked up at the ceiling. Rubbing his eyes before he continued, he answered Mac, adding a question of his own, "I'm very sorry I let you down, Mac. I let myself down, and I let the whole lab down. I have no good excuse, and I'm prepared to accept whatever hammer you want to bring down on me. Before you do, I do want to ask you this off the record, though; did you know that Lindsay was leaving?"

Mac looked down at his desk, exhaled, then looked back up at Danny. "Yes, I did," he said finally. "Perry told me about it, and he asked me to keep it quiet. Now, I did tell everyone else, but I asked them to not tell you because of the time Lindsay had to go back to Montana that one time. I figured that you would find out eventually that she was gone, but I should have known that you would find out as quickly as you did.

"Before she left town, I had hoped that things would work themselves out between the two of you by being on different shifts. I didn't want to lose her to Perry's shift, but if that's what it took to keep this lab running right, then so be it. I didn't anticipate how it was going to affect you, but I didn't think that I would've needed to." Seeing Danny looking very deflated, Mac's tone softened. "Want to tell me what happened?"

Danny sighed heavily. Putting his glasses back on, he told Mac about Cindy's sudden re-appearance in his life, and how it had completely disrupted his life and relationship with Lindsay. He apologized for the use of company resources to conduct the DNA test that had proven that he was in no way related to Jake. After finishing his tale of woe, he felt the tears coming again, and he inwardly cursed himself for showing such vulnerability to Mac, even though it was not the first time.

"Well, Danny, I guess you now see the pitfalls of inter-office relationships," sighed Mac. "I'm not going to tell you 'I told you so,' though, and I'm sorry it didn't work out between you and Lindsay."

"Yeah, me too," sighed Danny. "I didn't think it would hurt this much, losing her like that. I didn't even think that it could ever happen. Losing her, I mean. I don't even think it hurt this bad when Louie got hurt. I guess it's because I could have done something to prevent it."

Mac said, "You know, speaking as your friend, I'll admit that I never thought I'd see you like this. I think I remember that you once said that it wasn't funny to joke about falling in love."

Danny grinned, sheepishly, for the first time in days. "Yeah," he admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. "Who knew?"

"Who knew, indeed. I might have," joked Mac. He smiled slightly before he re-assumed a businesslike tenor. "Getting back to business, though; I should really lay down some harsh discipline on you for blowing yesterday off. However, the fact that you came apart as easily as you did over the events of the last few weeks makes me wonder; when was the last time you took time off? I mean, a real vacation."

"Oh, geez, I don't remember, and I'm not even counting my trip to… Montana." Danny nearly choked on the last word.

"I think you need to take a few mental health days. You have plenty, and this is a good time to use some of them." Mac took a sip from a glass of water on his desk. "I know you're dedicated to your job, and I appreciate that. At the same time, I can't have you running on empty. Starting right now, I'm putting you on two weeks' paid leave."

"Two weeks, Mac?"

"Two weeks. Look, Danny, I really don't want to give Gerrard any ammunition to use against you. This really should be a reprimand or a write-up, but I'll see that this won't go on your record as anything but an involuntary medical leave, which, given how you're feeling, is probably not too far from the truth," Mac explained. "Still, it would benefit you not to speak to anyone about this. Now, go home and rest up."

Danny sighed as he stood up. "Thanks, Mac. I'm glad you decided not to can my sorry ass."

"You're welcome. Now, get going before I change my mind," said Mac, grinning slightly.

"Thanks again." Danny walked around to shake Mac's hand, but as soon as he did, he grabbed the older man in a tight hug. As he walked through the hall to the elevator, the hollow feeling under his feet that he'd had when he was on his way to see Mac had disappeared. Even though the numbness in his heart remained, for the first time in a good while, Danny actually felt a sense of relief. Now that he didn't need to worry about work breathing down his neck for a couple of weeks, he could devote more time to finding his Montana and spending the rest of his life making up for the dark period that tore them apart.

o-o-o-o-o

Lindsay sat at a table at the Cactus Café. Sipping a caramel pecan cappuccino, she watched as Rich, Mick, Midori, Rich's drummer, Daryl, and Ron, the roadie, were setting up their instruments for that evening's performance. Only half an hour remained until the start of the show, and the Cactus was unusually empty for a Friday evening. Aside from Lindsay, only two other tables sported customers; at one table sat two young men and a young woman engaged in a game of cards, at the second was a gray-haired man who was nursing a bottle of beer, and at the third was a young man with slightly spiky brown hair and glasses. He was hunched over a newspaper, with a bottle of soda on the table in front of him.

Rich stepped down from the stage area and strode over to Lindsay's table. "You doing okay? Can I get you anything while I'm up?"

Lindsay smiled. "I'm good, thanks." As Rich continued to the order counter, Lindsay noticed the young man with glasses looking over at her. "He's my cousin," called out Lindsay, tipping her head towards Rich.

"Really?" the young man called back. "I've heard him play before. He's really good."

"He's always been." Lindsay had to raise her voice slightly to make herself heard over the rumble of Midori's bass guitar.

For the next few minutes, Lindsay and the young man in glasses would exchange shouted comments until he pushed back his chair, picked up his newspaper and his bottle of soda, and approached her table. "Mind if I sit with you? It would save us from having to shout back and forth if we want to keep talking."

"Sure, go ahead," Lindsay shrugged. The young man seemed harmless enough.

"I'm Bridge." He seated himself across from Lindsay and held out his hand.

"Lindsay. Nice to meet you." Lindsay shook Bridge's hand.

"Haven't seen you around here before," said Bridge. "Are you new?"

Lindsay nodded. "I've just been in town for about a week and a half. Moved here from New York City."

"New York City, really?" Bridge took a swig from his soda. "Why'd you leave the hustle and bustle of the big city to come down to the heart of Texas?"

Lindsay was beyond weary of telling the tale of how Danny had jilted her for the mother of his child, so she merely said, "I just needed a change in my life. I needed stability, and I wasn't getting that in New York."

Bridge nodded. "And you think you can get stability in Austin?" When Lindsay looked somewhat taken aback, he laughed. "I'm just messing with you. This is a great city. I've lived here since I was a freshman at UT, and after I graduated, I wasn't about to leave. It's changed a lot from the time I graduated, but the heart of the city has stayed the same."

"Yeah, that's pretty much how it happened for Rich. He and I grew up together in Montana and we'd planned to eventually break out and go somewhere like L.A. or New York. That got blown to pieces when he got started going to UT. He just kept going on about how much he loved it here, and I eventually had to see for myself."

"So now that you're here, what do you think?"

Lindsay took a sip of her cappuccino and grinned. "I'm beginning to think that he was onto something. This city is amazing! There's never a dull moment. I thought that I'd seen it all when I was in New York."

"Austin snares another one," crowed Bridge. "What will you be doing in our fair city?"

"I'll be teaching here at UT next semester," answered Lindsay. "Lower division organic chemistry."

"Nice," said Bridge. "Beauty _and_ brains."

Lindsay felt her face get very warm and gave silent thanks that the lighting inside the Cactus was on the dim side. "It's nothing really. I've been immersed in science since high school, and I worked in a lab at my last job. Rich has a friend at the College of Natural Sciences, and when they mentioned that they were recruiting, Rich told me, and here I am. So, what do _you_ do?"

Bridge shrugged. "I'm an account exec at an ad agency just outside of West Lake Hills."

"That sounds like interesting work, advertising."

"It is," said Bridge, "though I wish I could be on the creative side of the business. I followed that track when I was at UT, but I found out very quickly that getting into the creative side of advertising is harder than trying to carve a turkey with a carrot. I was determined to stay in the ad biz, so I worked a few odd jobs here and there until I could get my foot in the door."

At that moment, Rich's voice resonated through the speakers. "Hello everyone, and thank you for coming out tonight. I'd like to get the show started with a brand new piece that I wrote last week. It's called 'Big Sky Firebird,' and I'd like to dedicate it to someone very special. Linds, will you stand up, please?" Bridge looked over at Lindsay, who was mouthing "no" repeatedly to Rich and waving her hands as if they could brush his words aside. "Come on, Linds, stand up," called Rich, as the assembled patrons of the café clapped and chanted, "Linds, Linds."

Groaning, Lindsay stood up, noticing only then that more people were now seated inside the Cactus than thirty minutes ago. She waved, embarrassed at the attention, pointed to Rich, mouthed the words "I'm going to kick your butt" to him, and smirked.

Rich chuckled as he read Lindsay's lips. "Lindsay is my cousin and we grew up together up in Montana," he continued. "She's just moved here from New York City, and I'm glad that she and I get to be partners in crime again." The café guests applauded and cheered.

"Oh, goodness," groaned Lindsay, rolling her eyes as she seated herself again. "That was so embarrassing."

Bridge snickered. "Partners in crime, huh?"

"Don't you start, bucko," warned Lindsay. "When I said that I worked in a lab before, did I mention it was at the NYPD?"

"Ooh, beauty, brains, _and_ brawn?" Bridge smiled and winked.

"Shhh. Show's starting."

o-o-o-o-o

After the show, Lindsay was set to join the band for a late night dinner at a nearby all-night café. She debated inviting Bridge to join them, but he made the decision for her by mentioning, "I have to get going; I'm flying to Atlanta tomorrow afternoon for a conference next week, and I haven't finished packing. I would like to get together for coffee or something when I come back. What do you say?"

Lindsay blushed. "Oh, er, sure," she stammered.

Bridge pulled his cell phone from his pocket and slid it open. "May I get your number? I'll call you after I get back, and we'll go from there."

"Let me give you Rich's number," said Lindsay. "I'm staying with him for the time being, until I get settled in."

Bridge punched the phone number into his cell phone address book. "All right. Oh, let me give you this." He took a small leather case from his pocket and removed a business card from it. "It's only fair that you get my number, too."

"Thank you." Lindsay took the business card from Bridge. "If I get a new number before I hear from you, I'll let you know."

"Sounds good." Bridge sighed. "Well, I'm going to head on out. See you when I get back." He grasped Lindsay's hand and kissed it gently before he turned and left the café.

_What just happened?_ Lindsay thought. She approached the bandstand and called out, "Hey, you guys were great, as usual."

Rich stepped down from the bandstand, rolling up a coil of microphone wire. "Thanks. So, who was that guy who was sitting with you?"

"Just some guy I was talking with before the show started. We'd been just shouting back and forth across the room, then he decided to join me at my table so we could have a conversation like normal human beings." She looked up at the stage. "Do you guys need any help with anything?"

"No, we're okay, thanks," answered Rich.

"Hey, Lindsay, who was the cute guy you were sitting with?" asked Midori, jumping down from the bandstand.

"Hey," protested Mick playfully from on top of the bandstand. "What are you doing looking at cute guys when you have me?"

"Oh, hush, honey," Midori shot back. "You're way cuter than he was."

"Dang right." Mick turned back to dismantling the stage setup, grinning widely.

Midori turned her attention back to Lindsay. "Well, who was he?"

"Just some guy named Bridge. No big deal, really." Lindsay shrugged.

"No big deal? The guy kissed your hand before he left," said Midori knowingly. "I think he's sweet on you."

"I don't know," answered Lindsay. "He seems okay, I guess. He wants to meet for coffee soon."

Midori's face brightened. "Ooh, nice! So will you?"

Lindsay sighed. "I really don't know. I just wonder if it's too soon after, you know."

Rich set down the coil of microphone wire and put his hand on Lindsay's shoulder. "Too soon for what, Linds? It's not like he just proposed to you. Just keep it casual, and if things happen, they happen, and if not, I'll kick his ass if it's his fault." He smiled warmly. "Okay?"

"Come on, guys," pleaded Lindsay, "I haven't even gone out with him once. Okay, Rich, I'll give him a shot, and you and the guys can have what's left of him if he tries to pull anything stupid on me. Deal?" She spread her arms out.

"Deal." Rich hugged Lindsay, then called over to Daryl and Mick, "Y'all almost done over there?"

"I am," answered Mick. "Daryl?"

"Yeah, me too," Daryl agreed. He called to Ron, "Dude, let's start loading up the van."

As the men began wheeling their gear out to one of the Cactus' side entrances, Lindsay and Midori followed. "You know what?" said Lindsay, looking down at Bridge's business card. "Rich is right. Can't shoot Bridge down if I don't know even know what I'm shooting at."

"Attagirl." Midori smiled. She put her hand on Lindsay's shoulder and gave it a light squeeze. She mused, "I hope the guys hurry; I'm starving!"

_Next up: the crap hits the fan! Oh, and Bridge is back from his business trip._


	5. Something's In The Air

NExSW (Northeast By Southwest) Chapter 5

**A/N: Thanks for the reviews, those of you who've left them. Even if you haven't left a review, I'm still a happy camper if you've favorited this story, or me because of this story.**

**As usual, **_**CSI: NY**_** canon characters are the property of CBS. OCs are mine, all mine… mine, you hear me? Mine mine mine! (ahem) Sorry.**

**Chapter 5: Something's In The Air**

_To: FlackDJ at hotmail dot com  
Fr: lmonroe6 at sci dot utexas dot edu_

_Hi Don,_

_Sorry it's taken me this long to write back. It's been a crazy few weeks. As you can see, I've gotten my new e-mail address with the University. Please keep it under wraps; I don't want it getting out to just anyone._

_I'm doing well out here. My cousin Rich and his bandmates have been fantastic in helping me find a place of my own out here. You wouldn't believe how affordable everything is out here compared to New York, especially housing and gas. I mean, the price of a month's rent in Manhattan is worth about 2 or 3 months' worth of _payments_ on an actual house here!_

_Don't get me wrong. I still love New York, but Austin is definitely a great place to live. By the way, I'll send you a few tracks from Rich's CD when I get a chance to get them on my computer._

_As for Danny, I'm not interested in what he has to say. He made his choice, end of story._

_Please send everyone else my best._

_Linds_

Flack smiled as he read the first half of Lindsay's e-mail to him, but shook his head ruefully when he read the part referring to Danny. "Oh, if only you knew," he sighed at the laptop computer screen. He got up from the dining room table, stretched out, and turned to head to the kitchen for a bottle of iced tea when he heard a knock on his door. Peering through the peep hole, Flack unhooked the latches on the door and opened the door. "Hey Danny."

"Hey man." Danny shuffled into Flack's apartment. "I was wondering if you wanted to go to Sullivan's and grab a beer or something."

Flack thought for a second, then bobbed his head in assent. "Okay, I'm game. Just let me get out of my sweats first." He retreated to his bedroom to pick out some clean clothes.

Danny pulled out a chair at the dining room table and turned it around to sit down backwards on it. Absently, he glanced over at Flack's laptop and was about to look away when he did a double take at what he saw on the screen. Though he was not normally the prying type, Danny leaned in to read the e-mail that Flack had left in plain view. His emotions swung from shock to a mix of anger and elation; anger that Flack again knew something before he did, like the time that Mac had been dating that ME from London, and elation that he had his first solid lead as to Lindsay's whereabouts.

Flack came back into the living room, dressed in a T-shirt, jeans, and sport jacket. Seeing Danny sitting in front of his laptop, though, he froze. He inwardly berated himself for not closing his laptop when Danny arrived, and tried to act nonchalant. "So, man, you ready to go to Sullivan's?"

The tone of Danny's voice was oddly low as he growled, "Flack, may I ask you why you never told me that you and Lindsay were e-mailing each other?"

_Crap! The one day I leave my laptop on and open…_ thought Flack. "Look, man, she asked me not to tell you," was all he could say.

Danny slammed his hands down on the table and rocketed up out of his seat. "You expect me to believe that?" he spat. "What the fuck, man? Even if what you're saying were true, if I were you, I would have told me!" He put his hands on his hips and bit his lip, trying to hold back tears. _Great, now I'm breaking down in front of Flack, too?_

"Okay, you know what your problem is?" Flack folded his arms. "It's always about you. When Cindy came back into your life, maybe it was partially about Jake, but it was mostly about you wanting to make up for how your dad was. Maybe you still feel guilty about your little friend Ruben and saw Jake as a second chance to watch over a good kid, but when it came down to it, you didn't give a crap about how Lindsay felt. You didn't give a crap then, and you don't seem to really give a crap now.

"Well, _I_ give a crap about how Lindsay feels. You seem to have forgotten that she's my friend about as much as you are. She asked me not to tell you where she was going, and I promised her I wouldn't. Okay, I feel like complete garbage now, knowing that I've let it slip out anyway, and knowing you, you're probably going to fly out to where she is, thinking that you'll be able to use that 'Messer charm' and sweep her back into your arms, am I right?"

"All right!" Danny exploded. "So I'm a selfish bastard! I guess I just got a bit too caught up in the whole daddy thing with Jake. Why do I have to keep being dragged through the mud over it? And I do care about how Lindsay feels!"

"Really?" Flack's Yonkers accent coated his words like honey. "You have the funniest way of showing it. You cared so much that she took off and didn't even want you to know where to! You think that if she wanted you to follow her, she'd tell you. Sometimes, I think you don't deserve her," spat Flack.

"Man, you did not just say that!" Danny was immediately as nose-to-nose as he could be with the taller man. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kick your ass right now for that!"

"Besides the assaulting a police officer charge?" Flack shot back. He sighed. "Because everything that I said was true, except maybe the part about you not deserving her. Okay, I'm sorry I said that last bit, but you've got to face the fact that Linds has moved out and moved on. I know it's not what you wanted to hear," continued Flack, the tone of his voice having softened considerably, "but it's the truth. Look, I'm sorry that I didn't tell you about where Lindsay had gone. She made me promise not to tell anyone, not even Hawkes, Adam, or anyone else. It was part of me being supportive of her, and trying not to get caught in the middle of your quarrel." He sighed again. "Well, since now that I've accidentally broken that promise to her, I guess I know where you'll be going in the very near future. I just hope she doesn't kick my butt too hard over this." Flack leaned up against the dining room table.

Danny plopped himself back down onto the chair in front of Flack's laptop. He reread Lindsay's e-mail to Flack one more time. "So," he said after what felt like an uncomfortable silence to Flack, "she's gone to Austin, Texas. And I guess the 'utexas dot edu' means Texas University?" he asked, peering at Lindsay's new e-mail address.

"Yeah, she's going to be teaching there. And don't call it 'Texas University,'" said Flack. "It's the 'University Of Texas'; Linds was adamant about that."

"Man, I sure fucked this up, didn't I?" sighed Danny. "I'm pretty bad at the whole love thing, I guess."

Flack pursed his lips and quipped, "I wouldn't say you're bad at it. You just weren't sure what you were doing. I mean, this was the first time you'd really been in love, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"Right, and I'm Miss America," said Flack sarcastically.

Danny threw his hands up in defeat. "Okay, okay, this was the first time I'd been in love. Go ahead and make fun of me."

"No, man," Flack sighed. "You don't need me to put you through the wringer when you and everyone else have already done that well enough already." He slapped one hand onto Danny's shoulder. "Shut down my laptop and let's get down to Sullivan's. I think you need that more than anything right now."

"More than anything but Lindsay."

Flack smacked Danny upside his head. "Okay, now I get to make fun of you."

o-o-o-o-o

The phone rang in Lindsay's townhouse. Lindsay looked up from her book and rose from the couch to answer it. "Hello?"

"Hi Lindsay, it's Bridge, from the other day. I hope you don't mind me calling you at home; Rich gave me your number."

"Oh, hello Bridge," chirped Lindsay. "No, it's no problem at all. I'm sorry; I did say that I would let you know when I got a new phone number."

Bridge flipped through one of the folders sitting on his desk. "It's okay. Don't worry about it. Listen, I just came back into town last night, and I was wondering if you wanted to go grab a cup of coffee or a bite to eat?"

"Sounds like a plan," answered Lindsay. "Did you have someplace specific in mind?"

"Tell you what," said Bridge, "Want to meet me at the Kerbey Lane Café on South Lamar?"

Lindsay nodded, as though Bridge could see her reaction. "Okay, I'll see you there. What time?"

Bridge checked his watch. "I shouldn't be much longer here at the office. See you there at about 5:30?"

"5:30 works for me. I'll see you then." Lindsay and Bridge bid their goodbyes, and Lindsay clicked the handset off. She looked down at her loose-fitting shorts and T-shirt. "I should change."

o-o-o-o-o

Bridge stood outside the Kerbey Lane Café, cell phone in hand. He was surprised to see Lindsay, dressed in slim jeans and a cropped jacket over a tank top, stepping down from a city bus that had pulled up about half a block from the restaurant. He waved at her, and when she walked up to him, he picked up her hand. "Hi there," he said. "If I had known that you would be taking the bus to get here, I would have gone to pick you up."

Lindsay smiled. "Oh, I wouldn't have wanted to trouble you. It was no big deal for me anyway. And hi yourself."

As Bridge held the door of the café open for Lindsay, he said, "It would be no trouble for me to take you anywhere you need to go, really. You're not actually going to be riding the bus all over town, are you?"

"Only until I get a car," was Lindsay's reply. "And I can't just call you every time I need or want to go somewhere. It wouldn't be fair to you."

"I wouldn't mind at all." Bridge held two fingers up to the hostess, who picked up two menus and led Bridge and Lindsay to a windowside table. After they were seated, Bridge continued, "At least let me drive you home after this."

"I don't want to put you out," protested Lindsay, opening up her menu.

"Please, I insist." Bridge smiled warmly.

"Oh, all right," Lindsay sighed. "I'll let you drive me home today, on the condition that we split the bill. I'm not about to let you pay for dinner."

"Okay then," agreed Bridge, "for tonight, we'll split the bill. I can't make any promises for the future, though." He winked.

"Mr. Matthews, you are nothing if not persistent." She turned her attention back to the menu, looking over the appetizers. "This is a first for me. Fresh-baked bread as an appetizer."

Bridge's gray eyes lit up. "Food of the gods," he said almost dreamily. "Seriously, they make it really good here. It's great all by itself, but it's fantastic when it's buttered. Mmmm, buttery." He did an imitation of a drooling Homer Simpson that made Lindsay bust out laughing. "I'll order us up some and let you try it for yourself."

"I still can't get over how good that bread was!" marveled Lindsay as she and Bridge walked to his Mitsubishi Eclipse convertible. "I mean everything I had was really good, but that bread!"

"What did I tell you? That bread is some fantastic stuff." Bridge opened the passenger's side door for Lindsay. After she was seated, he shut the door and got into the driver's side. Once he started the engine, he let the top of the car down and started the drive down South Lamar Boulevard towards downtown. "So where do you live?"

"Not too far north of Northcross Mall. I'll guide you."

"You know, it's early yet," said Bridge, "You sure you just want to go home? Have you had a chance to take in some Austin nightlife yet? We can go get a drink or something."

Lindsay looked out at the sun setting over the Austin skyline. "I haven't had a chance to do a whole lot outside of getting moved in, and it's a very tempting offer, but I'll have to pass. I have a meeting in the morning with the dean."

"Okay," said Bridge, "that's fair enough. How about Friday or Saturday?"

"Well, Friday night, I'm going to some place called La Zona Rosa because Rich and the band will be part of a showcase there. Want to join me there then?"

"Sure. It's a date, then," said Bridge. "And what are you doing Saturday?" He turned the Eclipse onto a street leading towards the UT campus area, then onto another northbound street.

Lindsay glanced over at Bridge and giggled. "Seriously? I'll be car shopping that afternoon, at least."

"How about this?" asked Bridge. "I'll take you car shopping on Saturday, then we'll go down to Sixth Street in the evening so I can properly introduce you to Austin nightlife."

"Actually, I'm going with Mick and Midori to the car dealers, but we can at least do Sixth Street," answered Lindsay.

"I can deal with that. Pick you up at 8 then?"

"Turn right over here," instructed Lindsay. "The complex is on the right side. And 8 o'clock sounds great."

Bridge turned the car right and drove up to the security gate that served as sentry for the residents of the townhouse complex. He turned to Lindsay and appeared to want to say something, but nothing came out of his mouth.

Lindsay wrinkled her brow as she looked at Bridge. "Are you okay?"

"What? Oh, sorry," blurted Bridge, starting as if he had just been snapped out of a trance.

"Anyway, this is good right here. Thanks for a nice evening. See you at La Zona Rosa on Friday?" said Lindsay.

"Sure," replied Bridge. "I'll try to call you before then." He reached over for Lindsay's hand and kissed it.

Lindsay smiled and gave Bridge's hand a light squeeze. "Sounds cool. I'll see you. Good night, Bridge." She opened the car door and exited the Eclipse.

"Good night, Lindsay." Bridge smiled one last time at Lindsay before he slowly reversed his car into the street and drove off.

Lindsay watched Bridge's Eclipse drive away before she opened the security gate and started the short walk to her townhouse. When she got inside, she grabbed the cordless phone off its stand and dialed a number. "Midori? It's Lindsay. You can tell Mick he can stand down." Lindsay kicked off her ankle boots and started to hike up the stairs to her bedroom. "Yeah, I had a nice time with him. No, he was a complete gentleman. Well, he insisted on driving me home, then he kissed my hand before I got out." Lindsay held the phone away from her ear as Midori's scream came trilling through the earpiece. "Thanks for the hearing loss," she joked. After a pause, she continued, "I sure am; he'll be at La Zona Rosa on Friday." She sat down on the bed and smiled at Midori's next question to her. "Yeah, I guess I do so far."

_Looks like Lindsay is developing a soft spot for Bridge! Hurry, Danny, hurry! _

_Who knows where Bridge's "buttery" reference comes from? If you have kids, you might know this one. Cyber-cookie for the first one to get the right answer!_


	6. Wrong Way

NExSW (Northeast By Southwest) Chapter 6

**A/N: First of all, congrats to Claire4 for being the first to answer that Bridge's "buttery" reference is taken from **_**Power Rangers SPD**_**, where it was often uttered by the Green Ranger, whose name is… Bridge! Yes, that Bridge sort of inspired my own Bridge, though other than the hair, eyes, and preference for buttered baked goods, they don't have all that much in common.**

**An acknowledgement to SallyJetson for her observation that Lindsay would probably not live north of Northcross Mall, but rather in the funky "SoCo" area of Austin. I admit that am writing about Austin from a 15-year-old recollection, and that things have changed quite significantly from how they were when I was living there, so to SallyJetson and any other Texans who might raise eyebrows over places and things that I have mentioned, I offer my humblest apologies.**

**Well, here it is! Danny is finally going to Texas! Took him long enough.**

_**CSI: NY**_** canon characters belong to CBS, all original characters belong to yours truly.**

**Chapter 6: Wrong Way**

Bridge crooked his arm and held it out towards Lindsay. Lindsay took hold of Bridge's arm and walked with him out of the nightclub. "That was a lot of fun! I haven't been dancing in a long time!"

Bridge laughed. "You could have fooled me, the way you were getting down out there! You sure you didn't go out on the town every night back in New York?"

"Not so much," replied Lindsay. "Most of the time, I was pretty drained after a full shift and would rather go home and veg than go dancing. If I felt up to it, I would join co-workers at our usual watering hole, but not much in the way of dancing. Besides, can you imagine the eyebrows that would be raised if I were to show up at a crime scene in this get-up?" She motioned at her bustier top and slim black jeans.

"Which you look awesome in, by the way," said Bridge.

"Thanks. I once had to leave the opera and head straight for a scene in a subway tunnel, wearing a satin dress. It was torture walking in heels on those train ties…" Lindsay thought back to that day, when Danny had done a double take at the sight of her in that green dress. _Danny. Why I am thinking about him at a time like this? Why am I even thinking of him at all? _Her smile dissolved and she found her eyes misting up.

Bridge looked over at Lindsay and was suddenly concerned. "Lindsay? Are you okay?" He stopped and put his hands on Lindsay's arms.

Lindsay tilted her head upwards and rolled her eyes to the side. "It's nothing," she managed to say, biting her lip at the end of her sentence.

"Doesn't look like nothing," said Bridge, reaching into his pocket and retrieving a pack of tissues. He removed a tissue from the pack and gently dabbed it to the corners of Lindsay's eyes. "Was it something I said? I'm really sorry if -"

"No, Bridge, it wasn't you." Lindsay mustered up a small smile. "I, um, it's really stupid. Don't worry about it."

"Please?" asked Bridge gently. "I want to know."

"Why?"

"Because I'd like to think that I'm your friend and that you can trust me." Bridge held out the pack of tissues to Lindsay, who shook her head. "We can go talk in the car if you prefer." Lindsay nodded, and the two continued their walk to the Eclipse in silence. When the reached the car, Bridge opened the passenger side door for Lindsay, got in on the driver's side, then looked over at her reassuredly.

Lindsay took a deep breath. "Do you want to know the real reason why I left New York?" she began. When Bridge quietly agreed, she told the story from the beginning; from her first meeting with Danny at the zoo, to the day he showed up unexpectedly in Bozeman during the Katums trial, to the day she found him embracing Cindy. "And after all that…" Lindsay felt the tears returning.

"Sit tight for a minute." Rather than extract another tissue from the packet in his pocket, Bridge got out of the car, went around to the passenger side, opened the door, and held his arms out to her. Lindsay stood from the passenger's seat, let Bridge collect her into his arms, and let her tears flow unchecked. Bridge sighed, his heart breaking for Lindsay as he held her. He gently planted a kiss to the top of her head. "Shh, it's okay," he cooed, "let it all out. You don't have to worry about him anymore." His jaw firmed up, and he found the rage building within him, wondering how anyone could hurt Lindsay the way that Danny had. He swore to himself that if Danny's path should ever cross his, he would make Danny pay for the pain he had caused. When he felt Lindsay slump slightly, her crying having slowed to sporadic sobs and ragged breaths, he took a step back and bent down to be more at eye level with her. "You feeling a bit better now?"

Lindsay nodded. "God, Bridge, I feel bad that I ruined our evening."

"No, no, Lindsay, you didn't." Bridge smiled gently, then embraced her again. "I guess you really needed to get this out."

One corner of Lindsay's mouth turned up slightly. She looked up at Bridge. "I guess I did. I mean, I vented to Rich about it, and Mick and Midori know about it, too, but I've tried not to think about it since I got here, probably because I'd get all weepy every time I did."

"And you had every right to be," said Bridge. "That had to have been a real shock to the system. But hey, you're here now. You have a good job, and people who care about you. You deserve nothing less."

Lindsay tightened her arms around Bridge. "Thank you," she half-whispered. "That's very sweet of you."

"Anytime." Bridge kissed the top of Lindsay's head once more. "Hey, so I guess we're pretty much done with Sixth Street, aren't we?" When Lindsay nodded in agreement, he continued, "Shall we just go to the Kerbey Lane and chill out with some coffee and bread?"

"Sure. I'd like that very much." Lindsay smiled. "I've been dying to have some more of that tasty bread anyway." She let Bridge help her into the passenger's seat once more, and smiled again at him as he circled around to the driver's side of the Eclipse.

Bridge had hoped that he and Lindsay might reach a new stage in their budding relationship this night, but he certainly hadn't bargained on that new stage involving helping Lindsay deal with the remnants of the hurt feelings from her last relationship. Still, as he started up the car, he understood that, more than anything, Lindsay needed a friend much more than a boyfriend, and therefore decided that he could and would be patient.

o-o-o-o-o

Danny looked around the terminal at Bergstrom International Airport. "Where the hell do I go from here?" Following the signs overhead that pointed towards the baggage claim bay and car rental counters, he nearly bumped into a woman who had stopped to help her young child tie his loose shoelace. After a quick apology to the woman, he happened to look over at a cart alongside the walkway. The cart was festooned with bouquets of various flower arrangements. Danny spied a bouquet of half a dozen red roses among the lot, grabbed it from the display, and paid the young woman minding the cart. Hiking his messenger bag strap higher up on his shoulder, he marched on towards the baggage claim area.

Nervously, Danny looked at the scrap of paper in his hand and at the door in front of him. He had finagled the address from Flack after a great deal of cajoling, not to mention a great many rounds of beer at Sullivan's. He shifted the bouquet of roses to his left hand and rapped on the door with his right. His heart thundered in his ears as he kept rehearsing in his head what he was going to say to Lindsay, and he could swear his heart skipped a few beats when he heard the door unlatching from the inside. He straightened himself up as the door opened, but was surprised when he was greeted not by Lindsay, but a young man standing somewhere between his height and Flack's, with longish dark brown hair.

Rich looked quizzically at Danny and the rose bouquet in his hand. "May I help you?"

"Um, is Lindsay in?"

Rich raised an eyebrow. Slowly, he answered, "No, she doesn't live here. Who are you, if may I ask?"

"I'm Danny, her boyfriend."

Rich's eyes narrowed. "So you're Danny. You've got some balls coming down here after what you did to Linds," he muttered.

"What the hell do you know about what happened with me and Lindsay?" demanded Danny. "Who the hell are you?"

"I'm her cousin, and she told me everything. Now, if you'll excuse me," said Rich. He tried to shut the door, but Danny stuck his free hand out and held the door open.

"I'm not leaving until I get to talk to her." Danny pushed his way into Rich's condo and began to call, "Lindsay! Lindsay, come on out and talk to me!"

"Look, I told you that she doesn't live here. Dammit, I don't have time for this! I have to be somewhere really soon! All right, I've got nothing to hide, but if you screw around with my gear, there'll be hell to pay," Rich remarked, folding his arms. He watched Danny warily as the blond detective stalked from room to room, opening closet doors and calling Lindsay's name. Rich closed his hand over his cell phone, hoping that he would have the chance to dial 911 if Danny's search got too obtrusive for his liking. As Danny started re-entering rooms that he had already searched, as if Lindsay would have somehow materialized in them since he had last been there, Rich began to find Danny's actions verging on the comical, but he kept his mouth shut.

After looking through every room of the condo at least twice, Danny finally came to a stop in the dining area. He dropped the roses onto the dining table and put a hand on either side of the bouquet, staring down blankly at the flowers.

Despite himself, Rich suddenly felt a twinge of pity for Danny. He tipped his head to the side and asked cautiously, "Danny? Are you okay?" When Danny didn't respond, Rich took a step towards him, all the while keeping his cell phone at the ready. "You want to sit down?"

Danny had heard Rich both times, but didn't register anything that had been said. The feeling of his heart being spooned out of his chest was slowly returning, and he felt the tears forming.

"Danny? Danny, talk to me," said Rich. "Come on, say something." He slid his cell phone open, and poised his thumb over the 9 key. "Talk to me, or get out."

Danny slowly looked up from the dining table. "Okay, man, so she's not here," he choked out. "Where is she?"

Rich sighed. "I don't think I should tell you. She's moved on from New York City and from you, and I'm not about to have you screw her over again."

"What do you know about me and Lindsay, huh?" said Danny indignantly.

"I know that she cared for you, and you just cast her aside for your kid and his mom, who's your ex," replied Rich. "You are damn lucky that I wasn't able to get to New York to kick your ass when she called me about it."

"And you would have _tried to_ kick my ass for nothing," retorted Danny, "because I had the boy tested, and I'm not his father. I didn't find out until after Lindsay had quit the lab. That's why I'm here. I want to apologize to Lindsay for being a complete jackass, and I want to make it up to her."

"Wow." Rich rubbed the back of his neck. "You really screwed up, didn't you?"

"Yeah, like I need reminding, uh, um… what was your name again?"

"I don't think I actually told you, but my name's Rich." He exhaled heavily. "Look, Danny, I'm actually kind of impressed that you came all the way out here from New York City to patch things up with Linds."

"You really think so?" asked Danny. Rich bobbed his head and pursed his lips in cautious agreement, and Danny allowed himself a grin. "Thanks man. "

Rich's expression was still hard. "However, this doesn't mean that we're okay or that I don't want to kick your ass anymore, you understand? I'm just acknowledging that it was very big of you to come out and admit that you were wrong."

Danny sighed. "Yeah, sure. So, you not going to tell me where she's gone?"

Rich shook his head. "No. Linds has said that she's done with you so if you manage to get a hold of her, it won't be because I sent you. You're on your own," he said grimly.

"All right," said Danny. He grabbed the roses from the dining table. "I know where I need to go next." He pointed at Rich. "I'll deal with you later."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," snarled Rich as he opened the door, ushering Danny out. As soon as he shut the door and locked it, he slid his cell phone open and dialed Lindsay's number. "Come on, Linds, pick up," he pleaded as the phone went on ringing and then switched over to Lindsay's voicemail. "Dammit." Rich disconnected the call and redialed twice, with the same result. He thought for a minute, then dialed another number. "Yeah, Bridge? It's Rich. Can you get to the campus and find Lindsay? She's probably in her office. I can't reach her, and I'd go down there myself, but I have to meet someone in half an hour. You're closer to the campus anyway." Rich tapped his foot impatiently as Bridge answered with a question of his own. "You bet it's serious," replied Rich. "Has Lindsay told you about that jerk ex of hers?..."

_I know it's easy for us shippers to dislike Bridge because of his interest in Lindsay and/or because he's not Danny, but he's really a nice guy. Really, he is. And Rich is still a nice guy himself; he's just looking out for his cousin is all. Anyway, who will get to Lindsay first; Danny or Bridge?_


	7. Showdown At The UT Corral

NExSW (Northeast By Southwest) Chapter 7

**A/N: Thanks again to everyone who has read, and to everyone who has read and reviewed. I appreciate it immensely.**

**There was mention in one review about "if Bridge kisses her." Technically speaking, Bridge has kissed Lindsay at least four times already; none of those times have been on the lips, though (twice each on the hand and the top of her head).**

**Now that Danny's in Austin, things should get **_**really**_** interesting!**

_**CSI: NY**_** canon characters property of CBS, yadda yadda yadda; OC's are mine, dot dot dot.**

**Chapter 7: Showdown at the UT Corral**

"You're not shitting me, are you? He's actually here, from New York?" asked Bridge. He steered the Eclipse into an adjacent lane to pass a slow-moving SUV.

"I'm dead serious," replied Rich, holding his cell phone to his ear with one hand and using his other hand to slip his shoes onto his feet. "He said he knew where he needed to go, and I have this feeling that he's headed to UT. I tried calling her, but she's not picking up. Like I said, I'd go myself, but I have a meeting with one of the record execs in half an hour. You're closer to the campus than Mick, Midori, and Daryl, so if you can…"

Bridge sighed. "Actually, I'm not at the office right now. I'm on my way back there from meeting a client. I have to drop some stuff off, but I'll head to the campus once I'm done. You should probably still call the others anyway."

"Yeah, I'll do that. Thanks, man. I owe you one. Talk to you later." Rich ended the call to Bridge, gave himself one last glance in the mirror by the front door, and sprinted out, scrolling through his phone's address book.

Bridge tapped the disconnect button on his Bluetooth earpiece and stomped down on the accelerator. The Eclipse rocketed up MoPac Expressway.

o-o-o-o-o

A knock sounded on Lindsay's office door. "Come in," called Lindsay. Without looking up from the papers on her desk, she remarked, "Bridge, I didn't think you'd be coming until later."

"Don't tell me you've already forgotten my name, Montana."

Lindsay jerked her head up, her blood feeling very cold. "Danny! What the hell are you doing here? How did you find me? Flack told you, didn't he? I knew I couldn't trust that son of a - "

"It's not Flack's fault, not really. Anyway, I need to talk to you." He shut the door and walked up to Lindsay, extending the bouquet of roses to her.

"Why? You made your choice. Go back to your son and his mother. Just go," pleaded Lindsay, ignoring the rose bouquet.

"Please, Lindsay." Danny set the bouquet on Lindsay's desk, crouched down next to her chair, and reached for her hand, which she pulled away. The action tore through Danny's heart like a dull knife through a raw steak, and he found himself fighting back tears. "You need to hear this. I'm really sorry about everything."

"Okay, so you're sorry," sniffed Lindsay. She pushed herself out of her chair and walked past Danny to the door. Opening it, she continued, "But it's too late for that. I'm done with you. I won't play second fiddle to your baby's mother, and I'll spare myself the hurt of seeing you traipsing around with your family."

"Lindsay, don't do this. Please, I love you. I admit, I was stupid, and I was wrong. And I'm not a father. I had Jake tested, and he's not my son."

"What?" Lindsay felt like she had been hit by a bus.

"It's true." Danny pulled the DNA test results, folded into a square, from his pocket. He held it out to Lindsay. "I had Adam run a test. There's no denying the results."

Lindsay slowly unfolded the paper and read it. The shock of the sudden revelation widened her eyes.

Danny carefully took Lindsay's hand. This time, she was too shell-shocked to pull away. "You were right to suspect something was wrong. So was Flack. I just got all caught up in the whole fatherhood thing because of how my own dad was and how much I didn't want to be like him. I only did it for Jake, not for Cindy. She means absolutely nothing to me. Don't you see?" He held Lindsay's hand to his pounding heart. "There's no son, no baby's mom. Just you and me, Montana."

Lindsay yanked her hand out of Danny's. "So why did you kiss her?"

"I didn't kiss her; I didn't want to. She threw herself at me and caught me completely off guard. I wish I had done the test sooner, so that none of this would have happened, but I was a stubborn jackass, and it wasn't until you'd already transferred to swing that I finally got off my ass and did something about it. Now that you know, will you please forgive me and come back?"

Lindsay sighed deeply. "I'm sorry, Danny. I appreciate your apology, really, I do. But you hurt me tremendously, after everything we'd been through, and I don't know if I can get past that yet. Besides, I'm all settled in here in Austin, and I can't just up and leave at the beginning of my first semester here." Seeing Danny's crestfallen face, Lindsay laid a hand on his arm. "What we had was wonderful, but it's all in the past."

"Please, Lindsay," begged Danny. "Don't do this to me, to us. I miss you. I need you. My life has been hell knowing that I caused you to feel this way. Please come back to me, and I promise you that I will spend the rest of my life making it up to you."

Lindsay looked up into the crystal blue of Danny's eyes and saw the depth of his pain. "I'm sorry, Danny," was all she could say as she found herself looking away and fighting back her own tears.

The sound of a throat clearing caused both Danny and Lindsay to turn towards the doorway, where a concerned-looking Bridge stood. "Lindsay?" he asked. "Are you okay?"

"Who the hell are you?" asked Danny.

"I'm Lindsay's friend; who are _you_?" said Bridge, stepping into the office and wrapping an arm protectively around Lindsay. Danny's eyes blazed with jealous fury.

"Don't worry about it, Bridge," Lindsay cut in, dropping her hand from Danny's arm. "Danny here was just leaving."

"So this is Danny? As in 'left you for his baby's mom' Danny?" Bridge's eyebrow raised.

"How do you know about that?" demanded Danny. "And what kind of a stupid name is 'Bridge'?"

Bridge pointed a finger warningly at Danny. "Look, I'll have you know that I was named for my granddad, and I will not stand for you mocking his name. And Lindsay told me about how you dumped her to get back with your baby's mom." He hooked the thumb of his free hand through a belt loop. "You've got a lot of nerve coming all the way out here. Does your new woman know that you're here?"

Danny's fury was rising. "There's no new woman! The kid's not mine! I admit it; I was wrong to treat Lindsay the way that I did, and that's why I'm here! I'm here to apologize, so if you don't mind," Danny continued.

Bridge looked at Lindsay, "Did I miss something?" Lindsay was still having trouble keeping her tears at bay, so all she could do was pass the DNA results to Bridge, who looked over the paper, then handed it back to Lindsay, who then passed it back to Danny. "So the boy isn't yours. And?"

"That means that there is nothing to tie me to his mother and keep me away from my Montana," answered Danny.

"Your Montana?" Bridge asked, confused.

"Long story," started Danny, before he switched tracks, "What the hell am I talking to you for?" He turned his attention back to Lindsay. "Lindsay, come back to New York, please. Come back to me. I love you."

The tears flowed down Lindsay's cheeks. "I'm sorry, Danny, I can't." She broke away from Bridge and ran out of her office, down the hall to the ladies' room.

"Lindsay!" Danny tried to follow, but found himself held back by Bridge.

"Look, Danny, let her go," said Bridge as soothingly as he could.

"What, so you can come in and take her from me? Like hell I will!" Danny shouted, wrenching himself from Bridge's grip and going nose to nose with him.

Bridge stood tall, staring back at Danny. "You just don't get it, do you?" he shot back, folding his arms. "You think that you can come all the way down here from New York and convince Lindsay with some flowery words to go back with you after all the hurt you caused her? Think again, friend. Can you see how deep that hurt runs? Maybe I haven't known her as long as you have, but I can see it." He sighed. "I'll admit, I'm very attracted to Lindsay – "

"Don't even think about it!" interrupted Danny, drawing a fist back.

"Will you freakin' let me finish? Yes, I'm attracted to her, and I'd date her if the conditions were right, but I know they're not. More than anything, she needs some calm in her life after the past few weeks, and most of all, she needs a friend. Like it or not, I'll be her friend for as long as she wants.

"She's obviously not over what happened with you; we were out over the weekend, and I said something completely harmless that made her think of you, and she just fell apart." Danny's fist dropped and his expression changed from anger to pain as Bridge continued, "Yeah. That's when she told me what happened, and I got so pissed that I swore that I would kick your ass if our paths ever crossed. You know what, though? I'm not going to kick your ass just yet, because y'all apparently have a lot to talk about," said Bridge firmly. "And because you actually came all the way out here from New York to do that, I'll step off for now.

"Know this, though. If I ever hear that you've hurt her again, I will hunt you down and kick your ass," Bridge held out his hand. "What do you say?"

Danny, who had wanted desperately to punch out Bridge from the moment he had put his arm around Lindsay, found his desire to do so wavering as he thought about what the other man had said. He still didn't want to trust Bridge, only because Bridge had admitted his attraction to Lindsay, but something about him struck Danny as sincere. He stuck his hands in his jeans pockets and looked off to the side, then looked back warily at Bridge. He sighed, then bobbed his head slowly in understanding. He reached out and grabbed Bridge's hand to shake it and was surprised at how firmly Bridge returned the gesture. "I guess I got no choice if I want her back," he conceded.

Lindsay reappeared in the doorway, her eyes edged with red from crying. She was relieved to see Bridge standing inside her office, but she froze when she saw Danny. "Danny, what are you - " she began.

"Lindsay," said Danny softly. He took a small step towards her. "Look, um, I'm sorry I just dropped in like this. I would have called, but I didn't have your number. Then again, you probably would have hung up on me, the way you feel right now." He chuckled uneasily, then produced one of his business cards from his pocket, jotted something on the back, and held it out to Lindsay. "That's where I'm staying for the next couple of days. You can call me on my cell, or have the front desk page me. Please don't shut me out." He picked up Lindsay's hand, turned it palm side up, placed the card in her hand and closed her fingers around it, keeping his hand folded around hers. "Bridge here says that you have a class soon, so I'm going to go now, but I really do hope that you call me later on." He removed his hand from hers, moving it to cup her face, then leaned forward and kissed her tenderly on the cheek. "I love you, Montana," he whispered. Danny turned his head, and nodded to Bridge. "Bridge." He slowly exited Lindsay's office.

Having noticed that Lindsay hadn't flinched when Danny gave Lindsay the address to his hotel, nor when he kissed her on the cheek, Bridge watched the whole tableau with a slight ache in his heart. He looked at Lindsay, who now stared at the card in her hand. "Lindsay?" he finally asked. "Are you all right?"

Lindsay started suddenly. "What? Oh, yeah, I guess I'm okay." Her shoulders hung low.

Bridge approached Lindsay and encircled her petite frame in his arms. He leaned his head down to kiss the top of her head. The desire to tilt her face up and kiss her full lips was overwhelming, but Bridge fought it off. "I am very sorry that I didn't get here before Danny did," he murmured into her hair.

Lindsay hugged Bridge tightly. "You did your best." She looked up at him. "How did you know he was in town?" she asked.

"Rich called me. He said that Danny had gone to his place looking for you. He tried to call you after Danny left, but you didn't pick up. He would have come here himself, but he had a meeting."

"Rich tried to call me?" Lindsay loosened herself from Bridge's arms and went to rummage through her purse, which sat on her desk. She pulled out her cell phone and flipped it open. "Oops," she said sheepishly. She held up the palm-sized device. "Looks like I forgot to charge my battery." She closed her phone and shoved it back into her purse. "But how did Danny know to go to Rich's?" After a pause, she blurted out, "Flack!" Upon seeing Bridge's puzzled look, she explained, "Flack, well, his first name is actually Don, but most of the time, we call him by his last name. He's a homicide detective I used to work with back in New York. I trusted him not to tell Danny that I was coming out here. I'm going to kick his butt!"

"Oh, okay," said Bridge. "I thought you were using some new curse word or something."

Lindsay laughed. "Okay, that was pretty clever. I never would have thought of that."

Bridge smiled. "There's that pretty smile. So are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah, I'm okay. Thanks for coming by. I appreciate it," said Lindsay.

"You're quite welcome," said Bridge. He took hold of Lindsay's hand and kissed it. "Listen, I know that you have to get ready for your class, so I'm going to go, okay? Call me if you need anything, all right?" He reluctantly slipped his hand from hers, and with a final wistful "see you later," he walked out of Lindsay's office.

"Bye, Bridge." Lindsay felt her legs become wobbly, and she sank into her chair. She tipped her head against the back of the chair. She knew she shouldn't have expected Danny to just let her walk away without a fight, but he had seemed so consumed with being a father to who he had believed to be his son that she had felt that he wouldn't notice her absence. _He picked a hell of a time to come and tell me the truth_, she thought. _I can't go back to New York now; I've started a new life here. And even if I could go back, do I really want to leave Austin?_ "Oh, I need an aspirin."

_This chapter was much more difficult to write than I had imagined it would be; I didn't want either Bridge or Danny to come across as too wimpy or too aggressive._

_So now that Lindsay knows the truth about Jake, what's her next move? _


	8. Call Me

NExSW (Northeast By Southwest) Chapter 8

**A/N: I know that I've been fairly minimal with descriptions throughout this fic, and the trend continues in this chapter, to what I consider to be the utmost extreme! Aside from the conversations, there is very little, if any, exposition in any of the scenes. Hopefully, y'all will be able to figure out who's speaking to whom.**

**CSI: NY canon characters belong to CBS, and they are on involuntary rental. OCs belong to me, myself, and I.**

**Chapter 8: Call Me**

_Tuesday, 4:15 pm CST (Central Standard Time)_

"Flack."

"Don, it's Lindsay. You'll never guess who I just met up with down here."

"Lindsay! Er, how are you doing? So who did you meet up with?"

"Don't act like you didn't know that Danny was coming out here. You bastard, I trusted you not to tell him where I was! Why did you?"

"Look, Linds, I am sorry like you wouldn't believe. It was an accident, though."

"Oh, don't give me that! I should have known that you two are so tight that you told him when he asked you to."

"No, no, it wasn't like that at all. You gotta believe me."

"Really? Want to tell me how it was like?"

"One day, I left my laptop open with your e-mail on the screen, and I didn't get a chance to close it before he came over and read it."

"You expect me to believe that?"

"Swear to God, Linds. Danny wanted to kick my ass when he found your e-mail. You can ask him. That is, if you haven't killed him, cut his body to pieces, and hidden it all over the university grounds."

Lindsay sighed. "No, I haven't killed him… yet."

"I suppose that's a relief. Did he tell you?"

"About what?"

"About, well, you know, the DNA test."

"Oh, that. Yeah, he did."

"What do you think about that?"

"I suppose I'm happy that he's not the father of Cindy's child, but I'm still pretty upset about how everything went down."

"I can understand that, but he's really truly sorry about everything that happened. You should have seen him in the few days after you left. He was a complete wreck."

"Was he, now? He's got no one to blame but himself for that."

"Come on, now. I think he's been punished enough."

"Maybe."

"No, really, he has. Mac wanted to see him after he just ditched work one day. I really thought that they'd give him his walking papers, but Mac decided to just put him on two weeks' leave. He dodged a big one. Since then, he's talked about nothing but making things right with you."

"Really?"

"Really. Look, why don't you at least talk to him? You can do that, can't you? He went all the way out to Texas just to set things right."

"I suppose I can."

"I really wish you would. It's obvious that Danny really cares about you. I mean, would he have flown out there on his own nickel if he didn't?"

"I guess not."

"I'm not going to tell you what you should or shouldn't do, but I hope you at least hear Danny out. If you decide to come back, that's fantastic, because we do miss you out here. If you decide to stay in Texas, I understand; I just hope we'll be on your Christmas card list."

"Of course I'll still keep in touch, whether I stay here or not. I love you guys. All right. I'll talk to Danny. I'm not going to promise anything more than that."

"I won't ask any more than that. Still, I hope you and Danny can work things out."

"Mm-hmm. Hey, Don, I have to get going. I'm sorry I yelled at you earlier. I shouldn't have doubted you."

"It's okay. I can't say that I blame you for being upset. You take care of yourself, all right?"

"Thanks. You too. Tell everyone hi for me. Bye now."

"Bye."

o-o-o-o-o

_Tuesday, 4:47 pm CST_

"Hello?"

"Rich, it's me."

"Linds, how are you doing? Did Bridge go to your office?"

"Yes, but not before Danny did."

"Danny got there first? Oh shit. I'm sorry, Linds. You know, I tried to call you to warn you, but you wouldn't pick up. That's why I asked Bridge to go see you."

"Oh, yeah, that. My cell phone battery ran out, so I didn't get your message until later. Bridge apparently called me, too."

"Linds, are you okay? Danny didn't hurt you, did he? If he did, I swear, I'll beat the crap out of him."

"No, no, I'm okay. He came in all apologetic. He wants me to go back to New York with him."

"So what did you tell him?"

"Well, I was so shocked by what he told me before that, I didn't say anything either way."

"What do you mean? What did he say to you?"

"He said that he wasn't the father of what's-her-name's baby. He even brought along the DNA test results to prove it."

"He mentioned something about that. What do you think?"

"I guess I'm happy that he's not the father..."

"But?"

"I don't know if I'm ready to really forgive him yet."

"I don't blame you. From what you said, he was a major asshole about the whole thing."

"I know. Ugh, this sucks!"

"What does?"

"Like I said, Danny wants me to go back to New York with him. Of course, I'm still mad at him, but I do still care about him, and I guess I actually do miss him. At the same time, I love it out here. You and everyone else have been wonderful to me. I suppose that what I'm saying is that even if I do end up forgiving Danny, I don't know if I want to go back to New York. Me just getting the house and car doesn't help that either."

"Well, that's all up to you. I'm not going to tell you what I think you should or shouldn't do."

"Like you ever could make me do something I didn't want to."

"Yeah, you've always been the stubborn one."

"I have not!"

"Well, you just made my point." Rich laughed. "No matter what you decide, though, I'll be here for you. Hey, you eat yet?"

"Not yet."

"I'm on my way to the Black-Eyed Pea. I'm going to get some take-out. You want anything?"

"Ooh, I can't turn down the Black-Eyed Pea. Could you grab me a veggie plate? You know what I want on it."

"All right. I'll see you at your place in about an hour, hour and a half."

"Sounds good, thanks. See you then."

"See ya."

o-o-o-o-o

_Tuesday, 5:09 pm CST_

"Flack."

"Flack! Flack, I found her."

"Hey Danny. Yeah, I figured as much. I just finished talking to Lindsay a little while ago."

"Yeah? What'd she say?"

"She's still pretty sore at you, not that you can blame her or anything. Still, she did say that she would meet you to talk."

Danny sighed. "Yeah, well, I figured she'd be pissed, but that's fantastic that she said that she'd talk to me. Hey, did she ever mention anything about a new guy?"

"New guy? What are you talking about?"

"Well, this guy came to Lindsay's office not long after I got there. He got all up in my face and he seemed really cozy with her. He also knew about what happened with Cindy."

"Maybe it was her cousin Rich? They _are_ pretty close."

"No, man, I met Rich before that. Well, sort of. I went to his place looking for her. I could say that he was a jerk because he wouldn't tell me where she was, but I guess I can't really blame him. No, this was a different guy. His name was Bridge. You know anything about him?"

"Oh, yeah, Lindsay told me about him. She says he's a friend; never mentioned anything about dating him. I wouldn't doubt that she's made a few friends outside of Rich and his friends in the band."

"Maybe, but I don't like how close Bridge seems to have gotten to her, especially since he's admitted that he's got the hots for her."

"You think so? I think you're overreacting a bit."

"You're not the one the guy flat out told that he was attracted to her and that he'd date her if he could."

"He did? Well, I think she would have come right out and said something about dating someone else. Besides, I don't think that's her style to jump headfirst into a new relationship so soon after a, well… you know."

"Still, I don't like this guy."

"Why, just because he thinks Lindsay's hot? I think Lindsay's hot; you gonna punch me out for that?"

"If you weren't my best friend, or if I wasn't positive that you wouldn't move in on my girl, I would."

"Well, see? You don't know Bridge, so you think that any guy who's friendly with Lindsay looks at her like she's prey. Come on, Dan-o, give the green eyes a rest. That's not going to help you if you want her back."

"Yeah, well, I suppose. Hey, how'd you get so good at this relationship stuff, anyway?"

"Who says I was any good at it? I'm just calling it as I see it."

"Well, what about you and Jess, huh? I thought you guys were getting pretty tight."

"Don't believe everything you see, Messer. We're just friends."

"Yeah, and I'm Mayor Bloomberg. I see how you look at her, and I think she likes it."

"Yeah, yeah. Oh, crap. Speaking of, I said that I'd meet her at the Hope and Anchor in 20. I gotta go."

"All right, go meet your 'just friend.' I gotta figure out where everything is out here, anyway. See ya."

o-o-o-o-o

_Tuesday, 6:02 pm CST_

"Hello?"

"Lindsay!"

"Midori, hi! What's up?"

"Rich called me and said that Danny was in town, and he was looking for you. I kept calling and calling, but you wouldn't pick up."

"Yeah, my cell phone battery was dead. Thanks for trying, though."

"Are you okay? Did Danny show up at your office?"

"Yes, he did, and yes, I'm all right. A little freaked out, but all right."

"Did he hurt you?"

"No, nothing like that, but I think he and Bridge almost got into it."

"So Bridge did make it? Thank goodness. Rich said that he'd called him, hoping that he'd be able to warn you in time about Danny."

"Not quite. Danny showed up right before Bridge did. It got pretty tense."

"I'll bet it did! So what happened?"

"Danny showed up, begging me to take him back. He brought something interesting; the results of a DNA test that proves he's not the father of what's-her-name's child."

"Wait, what? Did you say he's not the father of that woman's baby?"

"Yeah. It was news to me, too. Not long after, Bridge showed up. I had to run to the ladies' room because it all got to be too much for me. I almost expected one of them to be standing over the other when I got back, but they were both standing and surprisingly civil when I did."

"Wow. That's pretty messed up. So what are you going to do now?"

"Danny wants to talk."

"Oh, don't tell me you're going to talk to him. Please tell me you're not."

"I promised Flack that I would."

"Oh, Lindsay, why? Why would you even want to talk to Danny, especially when he treated you the way he did?"

"Well, at the time, we didn't know about the results of the DNA test."

"Maybe, but Danny's your past. You're here now."

Lindsay sighed. "I appreciate your concern, Midori. Really, I do. But now that Danny's brought something new to the equation, I think that I should at least talk to him about it."

"I don't know. I think you're making a big mistake. I mean, what about Bridge?"

"What about him?"

"It's obvious that he really likes you. Are you sure you want to dump him for Danny?"

"What do you mean, dump him? I mean, Bridge is a total sweetheart, for sure, but he and I are just friends. Besides, I didn't say that I was taking Danny back; I'm just going to talk to him."

"I'm just saying, Danny is the reason you left New York City, isn't it? I just don't know why you'd put yourself through the heartache again."

"Glutton for punishment, maybe? Seriously, though, it's something I need to do."

"Okay, then. Just let me know if you need anything, okay?"

"Okay. Ooh, that's got to be Rich I hear at the door. He's bringing me Black-Eyed Pea."

"Oh, yum. I have to go check on my pot roast anyway. I'll talk to you later, then."

"All right. Tell Mick I said hi."

"Bye-bye."

o-o-o-o-o

_Tuesday, 6:17 pm CST_

"Hello?"

"Hi, honey."

"Hi, sweetie. What's up?"

"I just got off the phone with Lindsay. Looks like Bridge didn't make it to her before Danny did."

"Damn it. Is she okay?"

"She says she's fine, and that Danny and Bridge met and actually didn't kill each other. I'm worried, though."

"Why?"

"Lindsay says she's going to talk to Danny."

"She is? Why is that a bad thing?"

"I just don't know why she'd want to talk to the guy who broke her heart and left her for another woman. Besides, she's got Bridge now."

"I don't know why either, but I wouldn't worry about it. And about Lindsay and Bridge, I think you're reading too much into things. They're just friends is all."

"Maybe, but have you seen how sweet he is to her? Why would she give up someone like that for a jerk like Danny?"

"Sweetie, there's probably a lot more to this than what we see. If Lindsay feels like she needs to go talk to Danny about whatever, then just let her be. Did she actually say that she was going back to Danny?"

"Well, no…"

"Unless she actually said she was going back to Danny, you really shouldn't assume she is. Not only that, but we don't know what's really going on with her and Bridge, and it's really none of our business."

"I don't know. I still feel like we should do something."

"The only thing we should do is be Lindsay's friend. I'm sure this isn't easy for her. If she wants our advice, she'll ask for it."

"I suppose you're right. I just, I don't know."

"Don't worry too much about it. Look, let's wait until I get home, and we'll talk about it some more, okay?"

"Okay. I'll see you then. I love you."

"I love you, too, sweetie."

o-o-o-o-o

_Tuesday, 7:49 pm CST_

"Hello?"

"Hey, Rich."

"Hey, man, how are you? Listen, thanks for going to the campus, even though Danny beat you there."

"Oh yeah, you heard about that, huh? How's Lindsay doing?"

"I just had dinner with her, and she seems to be doing all right."

"That's good to know. Hey, let me ask you this; what do you know about Danny?"

"Almost nothing other than what Lindsay's told me about him. My impression of him wasn't a great one when he showed up here looking for her, though. He seemed like a real hothead."

"Yeah, that's the impression I got when I met him. I told him that I'd give him a chance to redeem himself with Lindsay, but only because he actually came out here from New York. We shook on it, but I'm beginning to have second thoughts."

"Hell, you can't go back on your word, man. If you had any reservations, you should have said something before you made the deal."

"I know. I guess I'm just worried that Danny's going to charm Lindsay into going back to him. I just don't want to see her hurt again."

"Me neither. Lindsay's a big girl, though. She can handle herself."

"I suppose so. I guess I'm just bothered because, well, I, uh…"

"You really like her, don't you?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I do."

"You know, Bridge, you're a great guy, and I have no problem with you going out with Lindsay. Hell, I even encouraged her to go out with you that night y'all met at our show at the Cactus, but the ball's in Lindsay's court. What happens from here on out with her and Danny is all up to her. Personally, if I were her, I'd forget all about that son of a bitch, but that's just me."

"I hear you. I suppose you're right."

"Well, can you promise me one thing?"

"What's that?"

"No matter what happens with Lindsay and Danny, will you still be her friend, and mine?"

"Of course. Don't you worry; I like both of y'all too much to just drop you over something like that."

"Thanks man. Hey, I gotta run. I'll catch up with you later, all right?"

"All right, I'll see you at Antone's Thursday night, if not before. See ya."

"Bye."

o-o-o-o-o

_Wednesday, 11:36 am CST_

"Messer."

"Danny?"

"Montana? Where are you?"

_To be continued…_

_Yeah, I know I'm evil! All in due time, my pretties…_

_In case the flow was a bit confusing, all the above are phone conversations. They are as follows:_

_Lindsay calls Flack  
__Lindsay calls Rich  
__Danny calls Flack  
__Midori calls Lindsay  
__Midori calls Mick  
__Bridge calls Rich  
_… _and the last one needs no explanation (I would hope it doesn't!)_


	9. The Miles Between Us

NExSW (Northeast By Southwest) Chapter 9

**A/N: Many apologies for taking such a long time to update, and thanks to all for your patience. This chapter has proven to be the most difficult to write, and the airing of "Right Next Door" threw my muse into a tailspin from which it has only recently recovered.**

**The events of "RND" have thrown me into a bit of a quandary, though; did Danny sleep with Rikki in the timeline of "NExSW"? I hadn't mentioned it at all in previous chapters, since they were written pre-"RND," so I'll leave it up to you, the reader, to decide if he did or not. Any reference to the Ruben Sandoval tragedy from this point on will touch only on Danny's grief at Ruben's death and refrain from any hints about whether or not there was any hanky-panky between Danny and Rikki.**

_**CSI: NY**_** canon characters are the property of CBS (though right now, I'm wondering if they deserve to own them). Rich, Bridge, the Brancotts, and anyone else in this tale that has not appeared in any episode of **_**CSI: NY**_** is the property of moi.**

**Chapter 9: The Miles Between Us**

"I just walked into the lobby of your hotel," said Lindsay. "I was wondering if maybe you wanted to go somewhere and talk." She spied a couch just a few paces from where she was standing and moved to sit down.

Danny hurriedly searched the floor for his boots. "I'll be right down," he blurted. "Don't you go anywhere."

Danny practically sprang from the elevator car as the doors opened, scaring a couple waiting to go up to their room. "Pardon me," he called back to the couple breathlessly, as he sprinted to the lobby of the hotel.

Lindsay heard the mild commotion and turned to see a very excited Danny sliding across the tiled floor in front of the check-in desk. Despite herself, she found the scene amusing, as did the two desk clerks. "Danny. That was quick." She stood up from her seat.

"Are you kidding me? I couldn't get down here fast enough," puffed Danny. He grinned broadly. His smiled faded slightly as his heart began beating faster at the sight of Lindsay in front of him. He felt unsure as to whether he should kiss her, sensing that she was probably still upset with him to some degree, so he reached for her hand and squeezed it tightly. "I'm sorry, Montana," he whispered.

"Danny, I - " Lindsay pulled her hand away from Danny's and bit her lip, desperately working to compose herself. She turned her head to not look at him, folding her arms and tucking her hands under her biceps, as if to keep Danny from reaching for her hands again.

"Montana, please," Danny pleaded, trying desperately to hold back his tears. "Please forgive me."

"Danny. I don't want to talk here. Come on." Lindsay tossed her head to the side, motioning towards the parking lot. She turned on her heel and marched towards the front door of the hotel.

The male desk clerk, a young man of about 21, watched as Danny practically scampered after Lindsay. He let out a low whistle, turned to his co-worker, and asked, "Did you see that? What do you think is up with them?"

The other desk clerk, a young woman about the same age as her co-worker, shook her head, all the while looking out the glass sliding doors to Lindsay and Danny climbing into Lindsay's new Saturn Vue. "No clue. Doesn't look like they're going to celebrate her birthday, that's for sure."

o-o-o-o-o

Danny fidgeted uneasily. He looked over at Lindsay, whose expression was blank as she drove the SUV down the freeway. Nervously, he tried to make conversation. "I like this music you have playing," he said.

"It's my cousin Rich's first CD. You remember my cousin Rich, don't you?" Lindsay's voice was flat.

Danny winced. "Heh, I guess he told you about me going over to his place, huh?" He fixed his gaze on the Texas State Capitol standing tall against the Austin skyline. "Yeah, well, I'm sorry about how that went down," he mumbled sheepishly. When Lindsay didn't respond, his voice took on a tone of slight panic. "Hey, uh, you gonna say anything?"

"I'm driving," was Lindsay's curt response. "Can you wait until we get to where we're going?"

"Yeah, er, sure," answered Danny. He suddenly felt very warm, and it wasn't because he was wearing the heavy coat he had brought, not knowing that Texas Hill Country winters were a good bit warmer than those in New York. It was all he could do to not stare at Lindsay, whose face was unreadable as she concentrated on watching the freeway signs and steering the SUV. He continued to try looking at the Capitol building, but found his gaze turning towards the University of Texas campus, the clock tower standing proudly over all the other buildings. "That's the clock tower that the guy shot a bunch of people from a long time ago, isn't it?"

"Mm-hm," was all Lindsay said in reply.

Danny's discomfort threatened to drown him. The stone-faced woman at the wheel of the SUV was not the Lindsay Monroe that he knew. She wasn't the newbie that he had tricked into calling Mac "sir" on her first day at the crime lab, nor was she the country girl who had impressed him by diving headfirst into a dinner consisting of exotic insects when the rest of the team recoiled. She certainly wasn't the sexy vixen with whom he had spent a torrid evening of lovemaking on his pool table after she had hustled him out of a bet, and she wasn't even the withdrawn and frightened child who he had flown to Montana to support when she had to testify in a case whose events had shattered her life. No, this woman was so far removed from all the facets of Lindsay Monroe that he knew that she almost didn't even look like Lindsay. Danny heaved a heavy sigh, then stole a sideward glance at Lindsay, hoping that she had taken note of how forlorn he was. When she had seemingly ignored him, he felt his heart dropping and turned his head to look out the side window.

Lindsay kept her eyes facing forward, watching the road in front of her. She had heard Danny sigh through Rich and Midori's voices harmonizing in the chorus of the current song, and it was all she could do to not look over at him. She had thought that he would have learned his lesson about not shutting her out after the tragic death of his neighbor, Ruben Sandoval, but Cindy's reappearance in his life with Jake in tow seemed to cause Danny to forget anything and everything he had supposedly learned. Perhaps it was residual guilt over Ruben's death, she thought, or perhaps his wanting to do right by the child he thought at the time was his, or perhaps his determination that he would not be the absent and unfeeling father that his own father had been to him. Maybe it was some combination of all three, but none of that mattered now. She steered the SUV towards an exit ramp that led to a frontage road that bordered the UT campus. As she nodded and managed to smile at the friendly security guard at the South 26th Street checkpoint, she felt her throat tightening. She swallowed hard, tipping her head back very slightly, hoping that Danny wouldn't notice the tears that were starting to blur her vision. Lindsay found a space in one of the faculty parking areas by the Undergraduate Library, parked the vehicle, and unbuckled her seatbelt. She finally looked over at Danny, who was now looking down at his hands. "Hey," she called. "Come on."

Danny looked over at Lindsay. Her face had softened considerably, but there was still something about her facial expression that made him uncomfortable. Nevertheless, Danny released himself from his seatbelt and climbed from the SUV. "Where are we going?"

"This way." Lindsay motioned to the Texas Union building, right next door to the library. "Cactus Café is typically quiet during the day."

o-o-o-o-o

At a windowside table at the Cactus Café, Danny felt uncomfortable as he watched Lindsay, who seemed to find her cappuccino far more interesting than her present company. "Hey, uh, Lindsay? You're not driving anymore, so we can talk, right?"

"Mm-hm." Lindsay didn't avert her eyes from the cocoa-dusted froth on top of her cup.

Danny raised his eyebrows. "Lindsay?" He craned his neck forward and tipped his head to the side to try and catch her gaze, and he felt his heart breaking when he saw the tears in her eyes. He instinctively reached out to wipe the tears away, but she grabbed his wrist and moved his hand to rest on the table as she looked up from her cappuccino and out the window. "Oh, honey, don't cry. Please? I'm sorry. I don't know what else I can do or say to make it better." He felt his own eyes filling with tears. "Please, Lindsay, tell me what I can do so that you'll love me again."

Lindsay finally looked over at Danny. "Love you again? That's just it. I never stopped loving you," she confessed. Teardrops spilled from her eyes and down her cheeks, and she bit her lip to keep from breaking down completely.

Upon hearing Lindsay's last five words, Danny inhaled sharply, his heartbeat suddenly accelerating. His eyes widened as the meaning of the words sunk in; _I never stopped loving you._ He felt a combination of relief and exhilaration, but the sight of Lindsay with tears trailing specks of eyeliner down her face still unnerved him. "Lindsay, you don't know how happy I am to hear you say that," he sighed, "but why are you still crying?"

"Because I'm tired, Danny," was her response. "I'm tired of wondering if I'm good enough for you to turn to when you need me. I'm tired of wondering if there's another woman out there with a child that you fathered who suddenly decides that she wants you back in her life. Most of all, I'm tired of hating myself for loving you. I can't do this anymore."

"What do you mean? Can't do what anymore?"

Lindsay took a deep breath. "Danny, I do love you. Really, I do. I just can't keep looking over our shoulders for the next thing that's going to test us. I thought that I wouldn't need to do that anymore, after we had our talk after the thing with Ruben, but then, when Cindy came along with her little boy that she swore up and down was yours, and you threw yourself headlong into the whole daddy thing, I began to wonder if it was worth it anymore. The day I caught Cindy all over you, I thought that you had pretty much made the decision for me."

Danny felt like he'd taken a bullet to the gut. "Lindsay, please, I told you that _she_ threw herself at _me_, not the other way around. I love you, and I miss you. I never thought that I could feel this way about anyone."

Lindsay stared off and out the window again. She took a sip from her cappuccino. "Do you know how hard it was to trust you again after the thing with Ruben? And then just when I thought I'd gotten over that, Cindy showed up. I was willing to play ball with the notion of you having fathered her child because we weren't together when it happened, but it seemed more and more that you and Cindy didn't want me on the team. That day she kissed you, I was going to talk to you about what was happening. I suppose I should have let you explain, but I was fed up with you breaking dates and scheduling outings with Cindy and Jake without any consideration for what I thought or wanted. What hurt most is that if I felt like I had to put my foot down, you almost always took her side over mine. How do you think that made me feel?"

Danny felt his heart shatter like a windshield smashed by a sparkplug tip. Flack had been right. Hell, everyone who had given him the business about the collapse of his relationship with Lindsay been right. If he wasn't in a public place, he would have been repeatedly smashing his fist into his face for being the ass that everyone at the lab had told him that he was for breaking Lindsay's heart yet again after he had sworn to her that he wouldn't. His fingers, scrunched into a fist in his lap, twitched at the thought. Danny licked his lips before he spoke. His voice was husky as he struggled to find the words. "Lindsay, I, uh… shit, I'm really bad at this. I don't know how I can show you how sorry I am for any way in which I've hurt you. I don't blame you for not trusting me right now, but I hope you'll be able to find it in your heart to trust me again. You say that you love me. I can't tell you how happy I am that you do, but it hurts that you say that you can't trust me. I'll admit that I'm not perfect, but I want to be the best man that I possibly can for you." Danny removed his glasses and dragged his palm over his eyes. "I've finally realized that I've been the biggest ass on the planet. I just wish that I'd figured it out sooner." He put his glasses back on, tilted his head back, and slowly exhaled through his mouth. He brought his head upright again and gently laid his hand on top of Lindsay's.

"Danny," said Lindsay quietly, "I appreciate that you went through the trouble of trying to find me. I want to trust you, but you've burned me twice already. How can I be positive that you're truly sorry this time?" She gently slid her hand from under Danny's to pick up her cappuccino and raise it to her lips.

Danny watched with a glint of wistful envy, wishing that he was the cup in Lindsay's hand. "I don't know what else I can do. I guess it's a bit much to ask you to reconsider moving out here and come back to New York?"

Lindsay set down her cappuccino and pursed her lips into a half-frown. The moment that she had replayed in her head numerous times had finally taken place, and even though she had given Danny a firm answer in all her practice scenarios, she found herself at a loss for words now that he was actually sitting across from her. "I can't do that," she finally sighed. Feeling tears forming once again in her eyes, she clamped her upper teeth down onto her lower lip and looked out the window once more.

Danny nodded slowly. He knew better than to expect anything but the answer that he had just gotten, but the expectation didn't make the actual even any easier to take. "I know," he admitted sadly, "but I thought it couldn't hurt to ask." The next question that spilled from his lips emerged before he could hold it back, "Is it because you're seeing Bridge?"

Lindsay's head suddenly snapped to look at Danny, confusion painted across her face. "Bridge? I'm not seeing Bridge. He's a great friend and everything, but that's it." She tilted her head to the side. "Whatever gave you that idea?"

"I, uh, well, it's just that you guys, uh, seemed very close yesterday at your office." Danny searched desperately for the right words.

"Like I said, he's a great friend," said Lindsay. "Not just to me, but also to Rich and his bandmates, Midori, Mick, and Daryl. Rich was actually the one who sent him to my office."

"Yeah, about Rich," said Danny. He reached behind himself to scratch the back of his neck. "Will you tell him that I'm sorry for the way that I acted when I went to his place? I was kind of an ass to him." He took a sip from his latte.

"Are you still going to be in town tomorrow night?"

"I suppose I can be," answered Danny. "Why?"

"Rich and the band are playing at Antone's tomorrow night. You can apologize to him in person there."

"You sure I'll be welcome there?"

"Of course, you dork," teased Lindsay. "Antone's is a club."

"Right, I knew that." Danny tried not to let his nervousness show. He'd had more dealings than he cared to remember with angry brothers of women that he'd dated in the past, and even though Rich wasn't Lindsay's brother, it was obvious that he and she were very much like close siblings. Danny wasn't scared of Rich in the least, but this would be the first time he would ever had to deal with a relative of someone he had been seriously involved with, a situation he didn't relish in the least.

"No, you didn't." Lindsay grinned slightly. "I'll make sure Rich and the guys go easy on you. Midori I'm not so sure I can do anything about."

"What makes you say that?" asked Danny.

"Well, none of the guys actually told me that I should talk to you, except for Flack, of course, but Midori was the only one who tried to talk me out of it. Something about not rehashing the past. Even crazier is what she said about me 'having' Bridge." Lindsay cupped her hands around her coffee cup, her elbows propped up on the table.

Danny remembered Bridge's admission of being attracted to Lindsay and felt himself bristle slightly. He also felt a flash of anger towards Midori for trying to coax Lindsay out of meeting with him, but it dissipated almost as quickly as it had descended upon him when he reminded himself that Lindsay had gone against what Midori had told her and was now sitting across from him. "Glad you didn't listen to her."

"Well, she doesn't know you, so she can only go by what she knows and interprets from that. She's really very nice." Lindsay finished off her cappuccino. "All of them are. Bridge, Rich, Midori, her husband Mick, Daryl, and Ron. I'll introduce y'all properly tomorrow night."

Danny chuckled. "What did you say just now?"

Lindsay looked puzzled. "That I'm going to introduce you to Rich and everyone?"

"Yeah, but you said 'y'all,'" crowed Danny, even though his pronunciation was more like "you'll" than "y'all." "I heard it clearly."

"Okay, so I said 'y'all.' What's your point?" Lindsay thrust her chin forward defiantly.

Danny was the one caught off guard this time. "Well, I was just noticing… that's kind of Texas-like, don't you think?"

Lindsay shrugged. "Why not? You know, when in Rome?"

Danny tried his best to smile, but the fact that Lindsay had adopted at least one of the local vocal mannerisms as quickly as she had unnerved him. This Lindsay was definitely much more like the one that he had fallen in love with, but something was still off. _Okay, so she doesn't hate me. I guess she never did, even after all the shit that happened, but why does it feel like I've lost her for good?_

"Danny? Earth to Danny?"

Danny blinked, slightly startled. "I'm sorry, did you say something?" He picked up his latte and gulped down what was left of it.

"I said that I've got an hour before I have to have my office hours. I can take you back to your hotel, then meet you afterwards for dinner. We can talk some more then." Lindsay swung her legs over the side of her chair and stood up. "Shall we?"

Danny pushed his chair back and stood up, hands in his pockets. "I'd like that," he replied, a small smile on his face. For several seconds, he and Lindsay stood facing each other unmoving, until he tentatively stretched his arms out to her for a hug. Slowly, Lindsay stepped forward and slowly slipped her arms around him. Danny clutched Lindsay tightly to him, as if her body was the only thing keeping him alive. "I'm sorry, Lindsay. I'm so sorry."

"Shhh." Lindsay held Danny almost as tightly as he held her. She drew away from Danny just enough so she could look up at him. "Listen to me, okay? I'm going to forgive you for this latest thing here, but understand that things are not going to be back to the way they were before between us. Not yet, anyway. And it's not just because I've moved out here, but because I'm still deeply hurt. Okay?" When Danny nodded and whispered, "Yeah," she stepped back from his arms and motioned to the café entrance. "Come on."

_Awww… she forgives him… but she did say that things weren't going to be as they used to be. Can Danny deal with it?_


	10. GreenEyed Blues

**NExSW (Northeast By Southwest) Chapter 10**

**Thank you to everyone who has decided to stick with the story; once again, I apologize for the huge time gap between the previous two chapters. My muse had run away crying after "RND," and the impetus for it to return came from a very unlikely source. The unlikely source will make a brief appearance in the next two chapters; no actual person will be depicted, but rather a character heavily inspired by said person.**

**I have a confession to make. Despite my affinity for the city of Austin, I have never once set foot inside Antone's. I know it's an Austin landmark, so I wanted to include it in the story, and I apologize in advance if my description of the place is way off.**

**The song referred to as "The New Road" is an homage to "San Ma Lo" by singer-actor Richard Brancatisano.**

**Danny, Lindsay, and all other canon **_**CSI: NY**_** characters are the property of CBS. All musicians and advertising account reps depicted are original characters of mine, and you can't have them. ;)**

**Chapter 10: Green-Eyed Blues**

Danny sat up in his bed, cycling through the channels on the TV. Dinner with Lindsay had been a pleasant affair, though a bit too subdued for his taste. They had dined at someplace called the Kerbey Lane Café, where Lindsay had insisted that they order bread as the appetizer. He had to admit that the bread, as well as the food overall, was quite delicious, though he was bothered by Lindsay freely admitting that she had previously been to the restaurant with Bridge. The conversation was fairly safe; Danny told Lindsay about the seemingly burgeoning relationship between Flack and Angell, which she seemed to genuinely be interested in, and Lindsay gave Danny a little bit of back story about her relationship with Rich and how he ended up as an independent musician.

The evening had ended much too soon for Danny's liking, but Lindsay said that she had an early class to teach the next morning, so she had driven Danny back to his hotel not long after they had finished their meal. They had shared another hug to say goodbye, though Danny had longed to kiss her. He had actually longed for much more, but it was obvious to him that Lindsay was not prepared to give as much as he wanted. As he watched her drive away, Danny suddenly felt very small and alone. The weeks that Lindsay had been in Texas had done something to her, something that he couldn't quite put his finger on. She was definitely still the spunky girl that could shoot pebbles from a slingshot with surprising accuracy, but there was now, as there had been at least once before, a wall between them. This wall felt different from before, like there was a window in it, because Lindsay was at least willing to meet and be at least friendly with him outside of their respective jobs. Still, Lindsay was holding herself back from him; she hadn't given him her new phone number, nor had she shown him where she lived now. That was the part that hurt most.

Danny sighed. He had stopped the TV on the channel that offered previews of the pay-per-view movies the hotel was currently offering, but suddenly found himself not in the mood to watch a movie or anything else on TV. He clicked off the TV and sprawled himself across his bed, staring up at the light fixture. He stayed on his back for what seemed to him to be an hour. He glanced at his watch and was dismayed to see that only ten minutes had passed. Danny sat up. He pushed himself off the bed, grabbed his blue button-down shirt, wallet, cell phone, and rental car keys from on top of the dresser, and headed for the door.

o-o-o-o-o

Rich had just opened a bottle of water and taken a long gulp from it when he heard a knock at his front door. He set the bottle down on the kitchen counter. He unlocked the door and opened it to see Danny on the doorstep. "Damn it, what the hell do you want now?" growled Rich.

"Hey man," said Danny, holding his hands up defensively. "I come in peace. Er, you busy right now?"

"Perhaps." Rich folded his arms and glared at Danny. "You going to go ransacking through here again?"

Danny sighed sheepishly. "Yeah, about that. That's actually why I'm here. I wanted to come and apologize for barging in yesterday. I was a big time ass."

"Yeah, you were."

Danny held his hand out to Rich, his eyes pleading. Rich stood silent for a few seconds before he reached his own hand out. "All right," he finally said, nodding slowly and gripping Danny's hand tightly, "I accept your apology. Don't think this makes us friends, though."

"S'all right," mumbled Danny. "I don't blame you for feeling that way." He stuck his hands in his pockets. "It's just that, I feel really bad about what happened with Lindsay and I didn't get a chance to tell her before she came out here, or rather, she didn't give me the chance. She's just, I mean, I… shit." He sighed. "Never mind. I don't know if you'd understand." He turned to leave.

"Danny," called Rich. When Danny turned around, he saw that had Rich relaxed his posture; his arms were still folded, but he now leaned against the doorway. "Look, dude. I think I do understand. You obviously care very much about Lindsay. Why else would you fly all the way out here?"

Danny smirked. "I don't know. Maybe I heard that Texas was a great place to visit?"

Rich shook his head and chuckled. "Well, it is at least that. I love it here."

"Yeah, so I've heard. What is it about Austin that's so great?"

Rich shrugged. "I love the Austin vibe. You've got a nice big city and small town feel all at the same time. It's a colorful and eclectic city, full of music, diversity, and fun. Check it out if you don't believe me." He peered at his fingernails.

"Got any suggestions?" asked Danny.

"6th Street's where a lot of the clubs are, live music and such. South Congress, or SoCo, as we call it, is pretty happening, too." Rich grinned. "You gonna take a trip down that way or something?"

"Thinking about it," answered Danny. "Lindsay says she's got an early class, so I'm kind of stuck with nothing to do."

"Right. Hey, listen, me and my band are playing at Antone's downtown tomorrow night, if you're interested."

Danny smiled crookedly. "Yeah, Lindsay mentioned that. I'll be there. By the way, I've heard some of your stuff. You're pretty good."

Rich beamed. "Thanks, dude. Listen," he continued, pushing himself upright from the door frame, "I got a few things that I need to do, all right? See you at Antone's tomorrow?"

"Sure. Thanks again, man."

"Good night." Rich retreated inside his condo and shut the door.

Danny turned and walked down the path to the parking lot of the condominium complex. After he got into his rental car and started the engine, he sat for a minute, thinking about his exchange with Rich. "Heh. That wasn't so bad." He turned his attention to the car's navigation system. "So where's South Congress from here?"

o-o-o-o-o

"You know, I'm glad you decided to go and apologize to him before tonight," Lindsay said, smiling. The traffic light at the corner of Congress and 10th Street turned green, and she turned the SUV left onto Congress.

"Yeah, well, it was the least that I could do. I knew that he and I got off on the wrong foot and I didn't want to have a problem with him if you and I are going to be okay."

"So what exactly happened?"

"I went there, and yeah, he wasn't too happy to see me. I apologized for barging into his place, and he accepted, but he said that we wouldn't necessarily be friends because of that. Still, he didn't throw me out, and we actually talked for a bit after that."

"Sounds like Rich," chirped Lindsay. "He's always been a bit rough with some of the guys that have crossed my path. He sounds like he's warming up to you, though. That's great if he is, because I really wish y'all would get along." She steered her SUV into a parking lot near Antone's and searched for an open parking space. Shutting off the ignition, unclasped her seat belt, grabbed her purse, and unlocked the doors. "Let's go."

Danny climbed out of the passenger side of the Vue, and walked around to the driver's side. He smiled as he admired Lindsay's outfit; she had chosen a cropped white tank top over black hip hugger jeans and under a cropped black denim jacket. On her feet were black stiletto heels, and around her neck was a silver chain fastened in the front by a small pair of handcuffs with a five-pointed star hanging from the chain between the cuffs. Danny wanted to take Lindsay into his arms right then and kiss her, and it took every ounce of his being to keep his hands in his jeans pockets.

Lindsay felt Danny's gaze on her as she checked her makeup in the driver's side mirror. Though a part of her felt uneasy about Danny watching her, she had to admit that she had missed the attention. "There we go," she breathed, after applying a bit of lip gloss, trying not to appear fazed. As she packed the small tube back into her purse, she heard a horn honk and turned towards the source. When she saw Bridge's Eclipse approaching, she waved.

Bridge waved back at Lindsay as he drove slowly past her SUV, searching for a parking space and smiling broadly. When he saw Danny standing with her, his smile wavered slightly, but he shrugged off his discomfort by repeating to himself that he was going to see a show with a friend, and nothing more.

Danny watched as Lindsay waved to Bridge and frowned. "You didn't tell me he was coming," he muttered.

"I'm sorry," said Lindsay. She sighed. "Look, I wish that you wouldn't be so hostile when it comes to Bridge. He's my friend, and I really want y'all to get along."

_There's that "y'all" again_, thought Danny. _Why does that bug the living shit out of me coming out of her?_ He watched as Bridge got out of his sports car and approached them.

Bridge embraced Lindsay. "Hi Lindsay. You look great tonight." He turned to Danny and held his hand out in greeting. "Nice to see you again, Danny," he said warmly. "Lindsay was all excited when she told me that you were coming."

Danny glanced over at Lindsay, who nodded. He grinned as he reached out to shake Bridge's hand, suddenly remembering the other man's strong grip. "Hi Bridge."

"So," said Lindsay, looking first at Danny, then at Bridge, "shall we make our way inside?"

"Let's go," answered Bridge. He bent his right arm and offered it to Lindsay. Lindsay slipped her left hand into the crook of Bridge's arm.

Danny felt his fingers twitching and his heart rate quickening. He was about to open his mouth to complain when he felt Lindsay slide her free hand under his left arm and curled it to rest in the bend of his elbow. Astonished, he looked at Lindsay, who smiled warmly at him. "Come on, cowboy," she said, tugging at his arm. Danny looked over at Bridge, who merely smiled and added, "Giddyup." Suddenly amused by the situation, Danny grinned, and said, "All right, let's mosey." When both Bridge and Lindsay burst into laughter, his face fell. "What? What'd I say?"

"Oh, Danny," said Lindsay, quickly recovering, "that is just so cute! 'Mosey'… you're learning."

"Yeah, you are," added Bridge. "You're all right, Danny."

"Come on," said Lindsay, pulling on both Bridge's and Danny's arms. "Let's get inside."

As the trio walked to the front entrance of Antone's, Danny suddenly got an oddly serene feeling. Even though he was still uncomfortable with how comfortable Lindsay and Bridge seemed to be with each other, they both seemed to genuinely want him there with them. _And she called me "cowboy,"_ he thought. _Damn, but I've missed that._

o-o-o-o-o

"Thanks guys," said Rich into his microphone. "Give it up for the band. Mick, Midori, and Daryl." He made a sweeping gesture towards each band member as he called out their name. The audience clapped and cheered.

Bridge looked over at Danny and Lindsay. "I'm headed to the bar. Y'all want anything?"

"No thanks," replied Danny.

"I'm okay, thanks," was Lindsay's answer. After Bridge began to make his way to the bar, she looked over at Danny. "You doing okay?"

Danny grinned. "Yeah, I'm having a blast. This place is great!"

"Rich tells me it's got a really storied history," said Lindsay. "Lots of famous blues musicians played here, and it's where Stevie Ray Vaughan got his big break. It's not easy to get a gig here."

"Fantastic," marveled Danny. He looked at Lindsay, just as Rich and the band began to play their next song. He licked his lips before he spoke. "Lindsay." When she turned to face him, he suddenly became nervous. "You know, I'm flying back to New York tomorrow."

Lindsay's eyebrows raised very slightly. "Really?"

"Yeah. My two weeks' leave ends this weekend." Danny looked away from Lindsay and towards the stage to try to gather his thoughts, a difficult feat, given the volume of the music. He bowed his head and exhaled a long breath. "Lindsay, are you going to miss me after I go back?" he asked.

Lindsay's lips parted very slightly in surprise. "Of course I will," she replied. "Why would you think that I wouldn't?"

"I don't know," admitted Danny. "It's just that I miss how we used to be, you know? I know that it's pretty much my fault that you're here now, but I just hope that if you never return to New York, you won't eventually forget about me."

"I could never forget you even if I tried," said Lindsay. "And I would never want to try to forget you. You'll always be someone special to me." She smiled as she put her hand on Danny's arm and squeezed lightly.

Danny laid his hand lovingly over Lindsay's. He was suddenly reminded of the time during Lindsay's early days at the NYPD crime lab when she had invited him to a jazz club to watch Mac play bass guitar. He wondered if Lindsay had the same recollection and was about to ask her when Bridge returned from the bar, a glass of gin and tonic in one hand and two bottles of water in the other.

Bridge handed off a bottle of water each to Lindsay and Danny. "Just in case y'all got thirsty. I figured that you couldn't go wrong with water on hand."

"Thank you, Bridge," said Lindsay. "That's very thoughtful of you." She took her hand off Danny's arm to accept the bottle of water Bridge held out to her.

Danny's first thought was, _Is he trying to make me look bad now?_, but not wanting to upset Lindsay, he thanked Bridge as he took the bottle of water from him. _Man, I just can't figure him out._

Rich and the band played the final note of their song "The New Road" and were rewarded with applause and cheers. "Thank y'all," he said modestly. He glanced offstage for a moment and his eyes grew wide, as if he recognized something. "Oh, no way! No freakin' way!" he gasped. "Dude, get your ass up here!" He vigorously motioned offstage to someone.

"What's going on?" asked Danny.

"Beats me. This has never happened before." Lindsay saw a tall young man with tousled brown hair and light facial scruff saunter onto the stage and extend his hand to Rich. Rich grabbed the extended hand and pulled the young man to him for a quick hug, and then threw his arm around his shoulders. Only then did Lindsay realize who the newcomer was. "Oh my gosh! Danny, Bridge, that's D.C. Rockwell!" She had to shout to be heard amidst the screams and cheers that suddenly exploded from the crowd.

Bridge furrowed his brow. "Holy shit, Lindsay, you're right!"

Lindsay stood with her hands clasped in front of her. "This is just too cool! He's even cuter in real life than he was on _Pop Stars USA,_" she breathed.

Danny pinched the bridge of his nose. _"_Oh, fuck. This is exactly why I said I wasn't taking you to that show," he complained.

Bridge looked at Danny quizzically, then to Lindsay, who snickered and explained, "He didn't want to take me to the _Pop Stars USA_ tour when it was at Madison Square Garden."

"How come?" asked Bridge, directing his question both at Lindsay and Danny.

"She's obsessed with that Rockwell guy," Danny muttered.

"I am not," Lindsay shot back. "Sure, I think he's cute, but you acted like I was going to leave you for him every time I just mentioned his name. You used every excuse in the book to keep me from going to that show, and I think you even made a few up." She smirked. "Funny how things have a way of working out." She smiled smugly and turned her attention back to the stage as Danny folded his arms and seethed.

Bridge watched the whole exchange, secretly sympathizing with Lindsay, but he knew better than to inject himself directly into the conversation. Attempting to lighten the situation, he merely said, "Now, children, do I need to give y'all both a time out?"

"No, I'm good," Lindsay answered cheerfully.

"No, Dad," Danny said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

Bridge was troubled by the manner in which Danny delivered his answer. "Hey, Danny, can I see you for a moment?" he asked, passing behind Lindsay to Danny's other side.

"What the hell for?" Danny asked indignantly.

Bridge put his hand on Danny's shoulder and inhaled. He leaned in closer to Danny so as not to let Lindsay hear what he was going to say. "Look, man, I know you don't particularly care for me."

"Gee, whatever gave you that idea?"

"I ain't blind, man, and if it were me in your position, I guess I wouldn't blame you. But look, this isn't about me. I just wonder why you're so sensitive about Lindsay being a fan of D.C. Rockwell."

"Why shouldn't I be?" Danny winced as he looked over at Lindsay, who was now cheering towards the stage after Rich had formally presented D.C. to the crowd and was now exhorting him to jam with the band.

"Why, though? If you truly do care for Lindsay as much as you say you do, you'll want her to be happy in every way that she deserves to be, and you'll respect her feelings about things," answered Bridge.

"I respect her feelings," insisted Danny. "Well, at least now I respect them better."

"You sure about that? That's not what I just saw," Bridge countered. "Seriously, did you really refuse to take her to the _Pop Stars USA _show?"

Onstage, D.C. feigned reluctance to join Rich and the band before breaking into his signature crooked smile and fetching his guitar from offstage. The crowd roared its approval, and Danny had to shout so that Bridge could hear him, "Yeah, you think I was going to stand by and watch her throw herself at that guy?"

Bridge looked past Danny to Lindsay, who was still cheering enthusiastically with the crowd as Rich deferred to D.C. to lead the band. "You knew she wanted to go," he pointed out, "but as long as D.C. was there, you weren't having it? How is that respecting her feelings?"

Danny felt slightly sick at the sight of Lindsay swaying with the crowd as she sang along with D.C., Rich, and the band's rendition of Radiohead's "Creep." "Well, what about _my_ feelings? Was I supposed to just let her act like some crazy teenage chick and cry all over him?"

"Are you for real? She just looks like she's enjoying the show. Do you see her crying and acting like a complete idiot? So what if she thinks the guy's cute? She's a red-blooded woman just as much as you and I are red-blooded guys. Don't tell me you don't have an appreciation for a nice-lookin' lady. Just because she's a fan of some singer doesn't mean she doesn't care about the important people in her life any less." Bridge raised his eyebrows, as if to say, "Will you just get a clue?"

Danny sighed. "Have you been talking to Flack?"

"What do you mean?" asked Bridge.

"Flack's my best buddy back home. He claims not to be good at relationships, but he's always got something heavy to say whenever I've fucked things up with Lindsay."

Bridge laughed. "I've heard a good bit about Flack, but no, I've never talked to the guy. I'd like to meet him someday, though." His face grew serious. "Look, I just want Lindsay to be happy, even if it means that I may never get to be with her the way you were. It's a chance that I'm taking, and despite how you feel about me, I hope you and I can at least agree that we both want Lindsay to be happy, and maybe we can even be cool with each other.

"Anyway, I know you really care about her, but if you don't let up a bit with the jealousy act, it'll bite you in the ass. It's a tricky balancing act, because you don't want to be a complete doormat, but you can't completely force your will, either. You do that, and you could risk losing it all, because that tells her that you value your own happiness above hers." Bridge took a sip of his drink. "I'm just saying is all."

Danny looked over at Lindsay. She certainly didn't look like a drooling, crying fangirl, but the fact that someone else was putting the smile on her face still bothered him immensely. He looked at Bridge, who had moved back to Lindsay's other side. Bridge looked approvingly at Danny, tipping his head towards Lindsay. He leaned down to say something to Lindsay, to which Lindsay seemed to react positively. She looked at Danny expectantly. Danny put on a brave smile, took a deep breath, and asked, "You enjoying the show?"

"Of course," responded Lindsay. "I'm happy that you and Bridge are trying to get along, and I'm thrilled that we've gotten see D.C. Rockwell live after all. Thank you." She put her arm around Danny and squeezed him briefly before releasing him again to applaud as the band finished their song.

Danny felt a warmth radiating from the spots where Lindsay had touched him. He closed his eyes to revel in the sensation, in spite of the raucous applause and cheers of the crowd. Maybe things weren't where they used to be with Lindsay, and Bridge was still too close for comfort, but at least all was starting to feel right again. _If only I wasn't going back to New York tomorrow..._

_If I lost anyone with the somewhat off-tangent direction of this chapter, I apologize. I have my own reasons for writing the events of this chapter (besides injecting a little drama for Danny and Lindsay). :)_

_So, any clue who I'm referring to with the character of D.C. Rockwell?_

_Next: So Danny has to go back to New York... will Lindsay return with him, or will she stay in Texas and give Bridge hope? Before I answer that, though... being related to the talent at Antone's has its perks, and Lindsay finds herself, Danny, and Bridge taking a bit of a detour from the drama presented in this chapter... come on and join the joyride!_


	11. L & D's Excellent Rockstar Adventure

**NExSW (Northeast By Southwest) Chapter 11**

**I apologize for the long pause between chapters yet again. This time, it's the fault of real life interfering with the writing process. Thanks to those of you who have reviewed, and to those who have otherwise indicated their interest in this story by favoriting me and/or this story.**

**I know the whole thing with Danny getting jealous of D.C. Rockwell seemed like it kind of came out of nowhere, but it's much more plausible, I think, than the Season 4 WTF-fest that began with Ruben Sandoval's death. I think it's also a reflection of some of our real-life situations regarding celebrity fandoms and the ways in which our significant others deal; some are like Danny, who are perpetually jealous, and others are like Bridge, who can separate fact from fantasy and are generally supportive.**

**This chapter is a bit of a departure from the story, but the idea came to me as I was finishing up the last one, and I just had to let it take flight. There's still Danny and Lindsay interaction, but I wanted to put the spotlight on my OC's for a little bit.**

_**CSI: NY**_** canon characters belong to CBS. All others belong to me.**

**Chapter 11: Lindsay and Danny's Excellent Rock Star Adventure**

The crowd gathered inside Antone's began to disperse. Lindsay grabbed both Bridge and Danny by their wrists and called out, "Come on." She began to pull both men towards a section of the club just off to the side of the stage area. She approached the husky man guarding the door to the backstage area. "Good evening, Jason," she said.

"Howdy, Miss Lindsay, Bridge," answered Jason.

"This is Danny. He's visiting us from New York," said Lindsay, letting go of both Bridge and Danny to motion towards Danny.

"My pleasure, Danny," boomed Jason amicably, taking Danny's hand in a grip that rivaled Bridge's.

Danny smiled politely, even as he thought, _Fuck! Do all guys in Texas have grips like this?_ "Nice to meet you."

"Y'here to see your cousin and his guest, Miss Lindsay?" asked Jason.

"But of course." Lindsay smiled sweetly at Jason.

"They're expecting y'all back there. Go on through." Jason stepped aside to let Lindsay, Danny, and Bridge pass by. Several young women, seeing that the trio had been let in to the backstage area, tried to rush past Jason, who diligently blocked their way and motioned for some of his colleagues to assist him.

Danny felt himself becoming nervous as Lindsay led him and Bridge to the green room. He wasn't worried about seeing Rich again, or even about meeting Midori, the lone opposition to his efforts to win Lindsay back. Jason, the bouncer, had mentioned that Rich had a guest, meaning that D.C. Rockwell had to also be backstage. Lindsay had seemed composed enough during the show when D.C. was onstage with Rich and the band, but he wondered if all her decorum would fly out the window actually coming face to face with the guy.

Lindsay rapped on the door of the green room. From inside, Rich's voice called out, "Who's there?"

"It's me," Lindsay called back. "Danny and Bridge, too."

The door to the green room opened just enough for Rich to confirm who was standing outside, then opened wider to let Lindsay, Danny, and Bridge pass. "How are you doing, Linds?" he asked, wrapping his arms around Lindsay.

"I'm great, thanks," she answered.

"Sorry I didn't just let you in," Rich said apologetically, "but because of D.C. being here, we've had to tighten security just a tad tonight." He exchanged handshakes with Danny. "Glad you could make it," he said, smiling. He shook Bridge's hand and gave him a quick hug as Lindsay greeted the other band members and introduced them to Danny.

"I'm Daryl. Good to meet you," said Daryl warmly.

"Danny? Mick Brancott. Thanks for coming." Mick grinned.

"Hi. Ron. I help carry their stuff."

Danny felt a slight bit of discomfort when it was Midori's turn to greet him. The Asian woman surprised him by extending her hand to Danny and smiling as she said, "Hi Danny, I'm Midori. Nice to meet you." Danny tried to find some glimmer of disingenuousness in Midori's face and was pleasantly surprised and relieved to find none. "I hope you liked the show tonight," said Midori.

Danny nodded. "Yeah, I did. You guys are great."

Lindsay turned to D.C. and held her hand out. "I'm Rich's cousin Lindsay. This is a tremendous honor for me."

"Hey there, sweetheart," said D.C. cheerfully. "The honor is all mine." Instead of shaking Lindsay's hand, he reached out and hugged her. "Richie's told me about you. Thanks for the support."

"Thank _you_," Lindsay said, desperately working to keep her exhilaration bottled up in order not to embarrass herself. "You deserve the support! By the way, this is Danny –" she motioned towards Danny, who was surprised when D.C. hugged him, but accepted nonetheless, "and Bridge." After Bridge and D.C. greeted each other with hugs, Lindsay continued, "So how do you know Rich? And you," Lindsay pointed accusingly at Rich while pouting playfully, "why didn't you tell me you knew D.C.?" When Rich shrugged in mock denial, he was rewarded with a smack upside his head from Lindsay.

D.C. chuckled. "One night a while back, when I was still tending bar in Tulsa, Richie came through the place, and I jammed with him on one of my breaks, and we really hit it off." He looked over at Rich. "You were with a different bunch last time, though."

"Right. I hadn't met these guys when I was doing the "Two State Two-Step Tour." Anyway, what D.C. said is for real. You know, we were actually talking about doing a CD project together right before he went to audition for _Pop Stars USA_," Rich added. "I knew that he had an awesome voice, but who'd have guessed that he'd win the whole damn thing?"

"I'm still having trouble believing it," D.C. laughed. "Even with everything that's happened, I still expect to just wake up the next day and find out that it was all a dream and that I have to go to work behind the bar again."

"Well, trust me, friend, it's no dream," Bridge said. "By the way, what the heck is a big time rock star like you doing here at little ol' Antone's? No offense, y'all," he added, looking from Rich to Midori, Mick, and Daryl.

"None taken," said Daryl, smiling.

"The _Pop Stars_ tour wrapped up a couple of weeks ago, and I wanted to get away for a bit before I traipsed off to the studio. Don't get me wrong; it was great to get to meet all the fans and rock out with my _Pop Stars_ friends while on the road, but it sure takes a lot out of you. I'm taking the next couple of months off to just recuperate. I'll still be traveling, but at my own pace, on my own terms." D.C. blew out a long breath. "I'd more or less planned to just divide my time between Tulsa and Kansas City to see friends and family, but when I heard about Richie playing Antone's, I had to make a detour."

"Well, it was definitely an honor for us to play with you tonight, man," said Mick.

"And it was definitely a treat to get to see it," Lindsay added. "I missed out on the _Pop Stars USA_ tour."

"Oh, that's too bad. How come, if you don't mind me asking?" asked D.C.

Danny suddenly felt very uncomfortable and was about to tell D.C. to mind his own business when Lindsay simply responded, "I had to work that night, and I couldn't get the time off."

_Wait, what? _Danny looked with disbelief at Lindsay, who was continuing to chat with D.C. as if nothing was out of the ordinary. He looked over at Bridge and whispered, "Did you hear that?"

"Yep," answered Bridge. "She could have totally thrown you under the bus, and I really wouldn't have blamed her if she did. Nice that she took the high road. Not that I thought she wouldn't."

"Chicks, man," sighed Danny resignedly. "Who can figure them out?"

o-o-o-o-o

A knock sounded on the door. "Who is it?" asked Rich.

"It's Jason. Open up."

Daryl crossed the room to the door and opened it. Jason poked his head inside. "Hey y'all, there's a huge build-up of ladies outside the back entrance, and they're all screamin' for D.C. Just thought I'd let y'all know."

D.C. leaned his head back and laid his palm across his face. "Good God. During the tour, I didn't mind the attention so much, but I'm on freakin' vacation here. I was hoping to get out of here, grab some taquitos, and go chill in my hotel room. All of you guys are invited, by the way. Fuck, I just want some peace."

"Well, you're not going to get any peace with all the women waiting outside for you. It already sounds like it's going to be total madness," Midori sighed.

"Pandemonium, for sure," quipped Lindsay.

D.C. grinned. "Apt description."

Danny poked Lindsay and leaned down to murmur in her ear, "Hey, Montana, you'd probably be out there with all those other chicks if you weren't already in here, right?"

Lindsay poked Danny back and, smirking, whispered, "You shut up."

Danny noticed the mischievous glint in Lindsay's eyes and had to smile. "But you would, wouldn't ya?" he pressed on playfully.

"You are such a dork," retorted Lindsay. She winked at Danny, which made him grin broadly.

Rich thought for a minute. "I think I have an idea." He looked D.C. up and down. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

D.C. wrinkled his brow. "I don't know, but I'm game for anything at this juncture."

Rich waved everyone to gather into a huddle. "Okay, I need everyone's help with this. I don't know if it's going to work, but I'm willing to give it a shot. Who's with me?" When everyone murmured their agreement, Rich continued. "All right. Jason, will you go fetch a couple of your guys?"

o-o-o-o-o

Behind the bar counter, the bartenders were counting their tills when they saw the door by the stage area open. A tall young man with brown hair and glasses, dressed in a button down shirt, jeans, and sport coat led the way. Immediately behind him was a taller young man with his head bowed slightly, a Texas Longhorns baseball cap pulled low over his forehead. In his arms was cradled a petite brunette woman in a black and white outfit. The woman's hands were clasped behind the neck of the young man who carried her, and her face was buried in the upturned collar of the young man's denim jacket. Behind the trio was another young man in glasses. He was blond and wore a white T-shirt, black leather jacket, jeans, and a scowl.

The slimmer of the two bartenders looked at the young woman with concern. "Is everything all right? Would you like me to call you a cab?"

The brown-haired man in glasses smiled and spoke as the group passed by the bar. "It's all right, friend." He raised his hand reassuringly. Little lady just needs to go home and sleep it off."

The bartender watched as the group made their way to the front of club and out the door to the street. He shrugged and returned to counting the money in his cash drawer.

o-o-o-o-o

At the rear of Antone's, a small crowd of women had gathered by where a black Ford Escape sat parked, hoping to catch at least a glimpse of D.C. Suddenly, the rear door opened, and the air filled with the hysterical shrieks of the assembled throng. Jason pushed his way out of the door as two more bouncers formed a human cage around a tall young man with his head bowed down and his chin burrowed under the collar of his T-shirt. An Antone's trucker cap was pulled down as low as possible over his forehead. The group of men began to rush towards the Escape with the women in pursuit. The women caught up to the group of men just as they reached the SUV, and one woman boldly reached out and yanked the cap from the young man's head. Wavy dark brown hair spilled from the cap as the young man was bundled by the bouncers into the Escape. The bouncers cleared the women from the open door of the Escape so they could slam it shut. The young man turned and waved to the crowd.

"Hey!" shouted one of the women indignantly. "That's not D.C. Rockwell!"

"Maybe he's with the band!" called out another woman in the crowd. "Where are they?" The women began to fan out, searching for any sign of Rich and his band. Jason grabbed his cell phone and called ahead to warn his colleagues who were keeping watch as Ron, Daryl, Midori, and Mick were loading their equipment into their vans.

Rich grinned as he watched the women retreat from the perimeter of the Escape. He turned to the SUV's confused driver and held out his hand in greeting. "Hi. Rich Alexander. Some explanations are in order."

o-o-o-o-o

Lindsay backed the Vue out of the parking space. "Boy, that was fun, wasn't it?"

Danny shrugged. "I suppose. I just wish I could've been the one to carry you, though."

Lindsay sighed. "Danny, you know it was all part of the plan." She looked up into the rear view mirror. "So how are you doing back there?"

D.C. Rockwell sat hunched down in the back seat of the Vue. He looked up from his iPhone and grinned. "So far, so good," he answered. He turned his attention back to his phone. "Yeah, Lucas, it's all right. Rich is my buddy. It's all cool. Can you give him his phone back now?" After a pause, D.C. continued, "Okay, man, where's the nearest Grab 'N Go? All right, listen, have Lucas drive you around until I call you again. Call Mick and tell him to bring the rest of the guys and meet us there." D.C. looked up from his phone and said to Lindsay, "Call, uh, what's his name, Bridge?" When Lindsay nodded, D.C. said, "Okay, tell him to meet us at the Grab 'N Go on 20th Street, right off of the Drag, Rich says." D.C. resumed his conversation with Rich, "As soon as we're all there, I'll call you, all right? All right, man, talk to you later." D.C. tapped his iPhone and peered furtively out the window of the Vue as Lindsay steered the SUV slowly towards the street.

Danny turned around to ask, "Hey, is it always this crazy with the chicks?"

D.C. shrugged. "Not all the time, but a lot. This has been one of the craziest scenes for a place this size."

"All right, Bridge, see you there." Lindsay clicked off her Bluetooth earpiece. "Do you think you'll really be able to relax tonight, now that people know you're here?" she asked D.C.

"Hopefully. I already told the hotel staff that I'm not to be disturbed." D.C. removed the Texas Longhorns cap from his head and fluffed up his hair. "So," he said, leaning forward and poking his head between the front seats, "Richie told me about you, Lindsay, but I'm curious about you, Danny. How do you know Richie?"

Lindsay suddenly became uneasy at what Danny would say. Danny himself was caught off-guard, but he composed himself to say, "Er, I haven't known Rich for very long, really. We just met a couple of days ago when I came down here to see Lindsay. We used to be co-workers."

"I had a feeling that you guys knew each other from before. You look like you're really close."

_You have absolutely no idea_, thought Lindsay. "We're pretty much, yeah," she volunteered.

"We worked a lot of cases together," added Danny, taking a cue from Lindsay.

"Actually, I mean that I thought that you guys are close, like a couple. I'm sorry," said D.C., tipping his head sideways and putting his hands up. "I shouldn't assume, and I don't mean to be nosy. You guys are my new friends, and I just want to know more about you, that's all." He smiled warmly, looking alternately from Danny to Lindsay.

"No, that's all right," said Lindsay reassuringly. "Makes perfect sense, doesn't it, Danny?" She flashed a grin at Danny.

Danny bobbed his head in agreement. "Yeah," he said.

"Anyway," Lindsay continued, as she turned left onto 20th Street, "I'm quite honored and flattered that you would consider us your friends."

"Not a problem, Lindsay," said D.C. "I figure anyone who's related to Richie has to be at least not half bad, and anyone who's a friend of theirs is a friend of mine. If anyone should feel honored and flattered, it's me." He peered out the front window of the Vue. "Is that it, on the left?" He flicked a finger discreetly to indicate where he was looking.

Danny looked towards the direction that D.C. indicated. "Looks like it. You see that, Montana?"

Lindsay saw the sign for the Grab 'N Go convenience store, but before she could say anything, D.C. turned to Danny and asked, "What did you call her? Montana? That's cute." Lindsay felt her face get very warm.

"Yeah, I used to call her that to piss her off when she was the new girl at the lab, but she got used to it, and I guess I did, too." Danny thought back to those early days. _I'd give almost anything to have even those days back_, he thought.

Lindsay rolled her eyes. "Danny," she sighed in embarrassment. She turned the SUV into the parking lot of the Grab 'N Go. "Okay, now what?"

D.C. answered, "Once Bridge, Mick and the rest of the guys show up, I'll call Lucas and have him drop Rich off here, then we'll all go inside and grab some grub to take back to the hotel. I seriously need some taquitos and a big-ass soda. So anyway, Lindsay, I like Danny's little nickname for you. Does everyone call you that?"

"Just Danny, actually," admitted Lindsay.

"Aw, that's too bad. I suppose I'll have to think of something else, then."

"You can call me 'Linds' if you want. It's just as well, because being called 'Montana' by someone other than Danny just feels weird to me, you know?"

"I gotcha. And thanks, Linds." D.C. winked. He reached behind himself and pulled what looked like a folded comic book from his back pocket. He unfolded the book to reveal a paperback word puzzle book. "So, you guys want to do a couple of these with me while we wait for the others?"

"Why not?" answered Lindsay. She patted Danny's arm and asked him, "What do you say, Danny? Are you game?"

"Word puzzles, eh? Let's see what you got, Mr. Rock Star," said Danny. He unbuckled his seat belt and shuffled himself in his seat to get a better look at the page to which D.C. had opened the magazine, smirking knowingly at Lindsay.

Lindsay released her own seat belt so she could better see the word puzzle D.C. and Danny were now looking over. _Stella is going to flip when I tell her about this. Jess too_, she thought. Grinning, she thought that there was nowhere else she would rather have been at that moment.

_Okay, I promise that the whole mingling-with-the-rock-stars bit will be finished before the end of the next chapter. I PROMISE._


	12. Duty Calls

NExSW (Northeast By Southwest) Chapter 12

**NExSW (Northeast By Southwest) Chapter 12**

**Sorry about the little random side trip. I had to get it out of my system. We're pretty much back to the D/L story from here on out.**

**All characters canon to **_**CSI: NY**_** are the property of CBS. All characters canon to my warped little reality reside there with me, and we're not currently accepting roommates. **

**Chapter 12: Duty Calls**

Lindsay, Danny, and Bridge closed the door behind them and walked quietly to the elevator lobby. All three would have loved to stay in the hotel suite to continue hanging out with Rich, D.C., Mick, Midori, Daryl, and Ron, but Bridge and Lindsay still had work the following day, and Danny had his flight back to New York.

"D.C's not what I expected him to be," observed Danny. "I was almost expecting some arrogant son of a bitch, but he's not like that at all."

"He's always come across as a down-to-earth sort of person, both before and after _Pop Stars_," added Lindsay. Nevertheless, she hadn't been sure what to expect when D.C. invited everyone to join him in his hotel suite and had been pleasantly surprised when he first wanted to go to the Grab 'N Go for snacks, then when he pulled the book of puzzles from his back pocket. The party in the hotel suite was similarly low-key; about the most flamboyant activities were the spirited games of Rock Band that D.C. encouraged everyone to play with him. "It was a lot of fun." The elevator door pinged and slid open. Lindsay entered the elevator car first, followed by Bridge, then Danny.

"It was, wasn't it?" Danny had hoped to get to spend some time alone with Lindsay, but she looked to be having a great time playing Rock Band with D.C., Rich, and Daryl that he ended up chatting with Midori for a good part of the time.

(Flashback)

"_So how do you like Texas?" asked Midori._

"_It's not bad. To be honest, I was expecting cows everywhere and a lot of desert."_

_Midori laughed. "That's what a lot of people think, those who've never been here." She picked up a plastic fork and speared a piece of apple with it. "Pretty much the only cow here is Bevo." She popped the bit of apple into her mouth._

"_Bevo?"_

"_The UT mascot. He's a longhorn steer."_

"_Oh, right. Texas Longhorns." Danny took a deep breath. "You know, I have to admit that I wasn't looking forward to meeting you."_

_Midori nodded slowly. "Likewise."_

"_I mean, I know that I messed things up with Lindsay, and I feel really bad about it. Lindsay is my first real serious girlfriend, and I'm really not good at the whole relationship thing." Danny absently dragged his thumbnail down the label of his beer bottle. "Until she came along, I never even saw myself as that type of guy. I kind of had this reputation for being a bit of a ladies' man, but I suppose that's because I hadn't met Lindsay yet._

"_You know, when I first met her, I was kind of determined to hate her because she was replacing my partner, who had gotten herself fired. I just never expected Lindsay to be so cute and feisty, and I was surprised at how much I wanted to be close to her, even outside of work. We've been through a lot since that first day, and it really hurts, knowing that I fucked it all up. I guess that's why I took it kind of hard when I heard that you were trying to talk Lindsay out of meeting with me, because I'd already run up against a lot of resistance with Rich and Bridge already then."_

_Midori's eyes softened. "Okay, I admit that I was quick to question your intentions, not to mention Lindsay's sanity, when she said that that she was thinking of meeting with you. I mean, Bridge has been really so sweet to her that I thought she was crazy not to go forward with him. _

"_But then Mick pointed out that you had made the effort to come here to talk to her, and that if you had wanted to seriously hurt her, you would've already." Midori sighed. "I still think that Bridge is good for her, but now that I know your story, I can feel that you really regret what you did to mess things up. When it comes down to it, it's her decision, but I promise you that I won't be trying to dissuade her from reconciling with you anymore." She smiled._

"_Thank you," said Danny. "That really means a lot. I mean, I guess you guys don't hate me so much now."_

"_Oh come on, now, we never hated you," Mick interjected. "At least I didn't. I was concerned for Lindsay, sure, because I didn't know anything about you, really. But you're an okay guy."_

"_Thanks guys."_

"_Danny!" called D.C. "Wanna take over for me here?" He held out the guitar controller to Danny._

_Danny shrugged. "You mind?" he asked Midori._

"_Go ahead. I'll manage." Midori grinned._

_Danny stood up, took the guitar controller from D.C., and winked at Lindsay, who had taken the drumsticks from Daryl and passed her microphone to Rich, who gave Ron his bass guitar controller. "Shall we dance?"_

(End Flashback)

"I'm thinking that I need to get myself a Rock Band set-up for my PlayStation 3 so that I won't have to wait for the next time D.C. comes to town to play it," said Bridge. "I had no idea that it would be that much fun." The elevator door opened, and its occupants emerged from it into the hotel lobby.

"Yeah, you were a regular guitar god out there," said Lindsay. "I never would have guessed."

"I can cut loose whenever I want to," Bridge said mischievously. "Well, anyway, I know y'all are parked around back, so I'm going to head out this way." He motioned towards the hotel's front entrance. He embraced Lindsay tightly and kissed her hand. "I'll call you tomorrow afternoon." He grabbed Danny's hand in a handshake and leaned in, throwing an arm around Danny to hug him. "See you later. Good night." Bridge smiled, waved at Danny and Lindsay, then turned to push past the hotel's revolving door and head for the parking lot.

"Good night, Bridge." Lindsay turned to Danny. "Come on, we'd better get going." She led the way to the revolving door and stepped into the night air. When Danny joined her, she smiled and started off towards the side of the hotel, in the opposite direction from where Bridge had gone; to throw the overzealous D.C. Rockwell fans off the trail, she had been instructed to park the Vue by the hotel's service entrance. Lindsay sighed happily. "What an evening!"

Danny smirked. "Yeah, I'll say it was. Getting to see a show with D.C. Rockwell, then getting to hang out with him; who knew?" Danny licked his lips as he said sheepishly, "Um, look, Montana, I just want to apologize for acting like an ass earlier."

"You've been doing that a lot lately," said Lindsay. "Acting like an ass, then apologizing for it." She snickered.

Danny grinned uneasily. "Yeah, I suppose I have. This whole – " he spread his hands apart, "all of this, has just scrambled my brain. This is all really new to me."

"And you think I'm a veteran at this? You are just the biggest dork, you know that?" teased Lindsay. Having reached the Vue, she remotely unlocked the doors and climbed into the driver's seat.

Danny climbed into the front passenger's seat. "One of us has to be, I suppose."

Lindsay had started up the ignition when Danny spoke. She hurriedly turned to look at him and said apologetically, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean – "

Danny reached over and laid his finger over Lindsay's lips. "Shhh, it's okay." He felt his fingertip tingle slightly at the contact. His eyes locked onto hers, the desire within the crystal blue pools undeniable. Without breaking his gaze from hers, he slowly withdrew his finger from her lips and slid his hand up to stroke her cheek.

Lindsay's eyes closed as Danny's fingertips caressed her cheek. She felt her heartrate accelerate suddenly as his fingers traveled to her jawline and down her neck and was thankful that her jacket obscured the goosebumps that she felt sprouting all over her arms. When Danny's hand pushed gently into her hair, she couldn't help but gasp lightly. She licked her lips and managed to croak out, "Danny?"

"Montana?" Danny whispered back. He gently extended his face an almost imperceptible length closer to Lindsay's.

Though Lindsay's heart had thawed considerably since their tense reunion in her office and she now savored the touch of Danny's fingertips on her skin, she still felt very awkward. She opened her eyes slowly, noticing that Danny's face had drawn slightly closer to her own. "Danny, I, uh, think we need to get moving."

Lindsay's words, as gently as they were spoken, still stung hard. Danny nodded slowly and sadly. "I'm sorry." He reluctantly withdrew his hand from Lindsay's hair but continued to look at her as she turned her attention to her driving.

Lindsay U-turned the Vue and drove up the driveway behind the hotel. As soon as she turned the SUV into the street, she spoke, "No need to be. I mean, we really do need to get moving, since you have your flight in the morning, and I have a class to teach. I hadn't planned on the get-together with D.C. at all. If he hadn't been here, we probably would have just hung out with Rich and the band for a bit, maybe gone to the Kerbey Lane Café or someplace. If anyone needs to apologize, it's me."

Danny asked, "What do you need to apologize for?"

"I know you wanted to spend some time alone with me, and I probably didn't give you as much time as you might have wanted." Lindsay felt a wave of guilt wash over her. "Sure, we had the meeting at the Cactus Café, and dinner at the Kerbey Lane, but I know you weren't expecting Bridge to be at Antone's tonight, much less D.C., and I'm sorry for that, and I'm sorry if I ruined your evening."

"No, no," said Danny soothingly. "It's all right. I'm just glad that I got to be with you and see you enjoying yourself."

Lindsay gave Danny a quick look before turning the SUV onto the on-ramp to Interstate 35. "You really mean that?"

"Of course. I just want you to be happy." Danny turned the words over in his head. _I want you to be happy, and I hope that I'll always be the one who makes you happy_.

"Thank you, Danny. I am pretty happy right now." As she drove, Lindsay was suddenly struck by the realization that tonight was the last night she would spend with Danny for who knew how long, and though she knew she would miss him when he returned to New York, she managed to convince herself that she felt at peace with the idea.

Danny, on the other hand, was beginning to feel like he was being pulled under and away from Lindsay by an insurmountable undertow. As cordial as Lindsay had been to him these last couple of days, he was still very disturbed by how easily she had slipped into her new life. Danny could understand that Lindsay and Rich would be close, since they had been as kids, and that Austin probably resembled Bozeman more than it did New York, but even though Lindsay had said that there was nothing between Bridge and her, the fact that she had become close to the charming Southern gentleman in such a short span of time weighed heavily on his mind. _Will Bridge dive in for the kill as soon as I'm gone?,_ he wondered, _and if he does, what will Lindsay do? She's got to know that he wants more from her than just friendship. _Even though Bridge had given him a chance to make things right with Lindsay and was apparently willing to sacrifice his own chances to date her, Danny was still wary of the other man.

"Danny?" Lindsay's voice snapped Danny back to reality. When Danny let out a confused "huh?" Lindsay giggled. "You've been really quiet."

Danny looked down at his hands. Without raising his eyes, he asked quietly, "Are you really going to miss me when I go back to New York tomorrow?"

"Of course I'm going to miss you. I told you already that I would." Lindsay took the SUV towards the exit ramp to the bridge leading to the opposite side of the freeway. At the stoplight, Lindsay turned to Danny and asked, "Why do you ask?"

"It's just," started Danny, "I mean, you seem so comfortable here. Not that it's a bad thing to be comfortable where you live."

The light changed to green and Lindsay turned the SUV onto the bridge over Interstate 35. "I'm not sure I'm following you."

"It just almost seems like…" Danny searched desperately for the right words, "like you wanted to just totally wipe every bit of New York from your life."

"Danny, I wouldn't erase the time I spent in New York, the time I spent with you, even if my life depended on it. I'll always treasure that. I just never thought I'd adapt so quickly into living here as I have. I've got family here, new friends, and a great job and an exciting new life, but I still have family in New York, and I'm not just talking about Uncle Freddy, either." Lindsay glanced sideways at Danny. "Do you get what I'm saying?"

Danny nodded slowly. "Yeah. I have to know, though; had you actually intended to move out here when things went bad?"

Lindsay sighed. "I didn't plan to in the beginning. I did think that Flack, Stella, Hawkes, Adam, and everyone might be getting a bit sick of me moping and bitching about what you'd done and what you were doing with Cindy and Jake, so I called Rich. Even though we were miles apart, we still have that close bond, and he's always been there for me, from when I fell off my bike the first time I rode without training wheels, to that horrible day at the diner, to everything that's happened since.

"When Rich first heard about what happened with you and Cindy, you don't know how long it took me to talk him down from jumping on a plane up here to beat the snot out of you." Lindsay drove up into the parking lot of the Country Inn and Suites. "I thought about taking another few weeks off to just visit him here, and he and I actually began talking about it, until he found out from an old roommate of his about a teaching position that had opened up in the science department." Rather than pull the SUV to just outside the front lobby, Lindsay searched the parking lot for an open space. "That's when I started thinking about how cool it would be to move out here to get to hang out with Rich again and see just what it was about Austin that he loved so much that he wouldn't come back to Bozeman."

Danny nodded. "I can understand all of that. What I can't understand is why you couldn't and wouldn't tell me that you were leaving."

Lindsay sighed, looking out into the distance, barely able to see the illuminated UT clock tower in the hazy night sky. "I figured you would probably try to convince me to stay if you knew."

Danny smirked. "Of course, I would have."

Lindsay continued, "And I probably would have, but it kept nagging at me that nothing would change; that it would just be _carte blanche_ for you and Cindy to keep using me as a doormat." When Danny opened his mouth to protest, Lindsay held her hand up. "Please let me finish. Maybe you wouldn't have, but as long as Cindy was around, it seemed that her word was law, and she was able to use Jake to manipulate you to her will. You know she did."

Danny sighed in resignation. "Yeah, she did. I feel awful for the kid, you know? I had resolved not to get too attached to another kid after what happened to Ruben, but when Cindy insisted that Jake was my son, I thought that things were different because here was a kid that I was supposedly directly linked to. Oh, man, you should have seen me when I got those test results. I had no real idea how I was going to break it to Cindy, but the only thing that I could think about was how I could properly apologize to you for being a complete dumbass. I knew you were pretty pissed off with me, but I never would have thought that you'd be so pissed as to leave the department, much less the state."

Lindsay smirked. "Pissed doesn't begin to describe it. If you haven't already heard from Stella, Flack, Adam, or whoever else, I can elaborate." Unable to find a parking space to her liking, Lindsay circled around to the front of the hotel and stopped the SUV in the circular drive right outside the front entrance.

"No, that's okay," said Danny, wincing slightly. He shifted slightly so that he could better face Lindsay. "So what now?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, you, me, us," answered Danny, motioning between Lindsay and himself. "Are you ever going to come back to New York?"

As much as Lindsay knew the question would come up, she still found it difficult to answer. "If I do, it won't be in the near future. I just started the teaching position, and I can't just leave at the beginning of the semester. Not only that, but I've just bought this SUV, and a new townhouse. To be honest," she admitted, "I hadn't actually planned on going back to New York. Of course," she added quickly, "that was before you told me the whole story with Cindy and Jake."

"And now?"

"I'm a bit torn, but I'm finding that I really like it out here. I mean, it's not New York, but it's definitely fun. I get to hang out with Rich again, and I've got new friends here; the Brancotts, Daryl, Ron, and Bridge, among others. That, and it costs much less to live out here than in New York. It's kind of a nice mix for me." She smiled sadly.

Danny felt his heart plunging faster than an anvil from the top of the Chrysler Building. "So you're not ever coming back?"

"Maybe in a few years, but definitely not now. I'm just not in a position to leave just yet." Lindsay saw the pain in Danny's eyes and reached out a hand to gently touch his arm. "I'm sorry," she said, her voice almost a whisper.

Suddenly, Danny leaned towards Lindsay and kissed her. His lips were insistent and gentle at the same time as he lost himself in the feel and taste of her lips. He extended both hands out to cup her face and pull her closer to him.

As much as Lindsay felt that she shouldn't have been kissing Danny, she found herself unable to break away. She had missed his touch and the way he had made her feel when things were right with them. Eyes closed, she leaned into his kiss, shivering slightly at the tingles it sent throughout her body.

Danny let one hand travel from Lindsay's face, down her neck and under the collar of her jacket. He slowly started to slide the jacket from her shoulder to caress her shoulder and smiled when she gasped against his lips at the touch. _Damn, I've missed this_, he thought. _It's been way too long_. Despite his longing to take Lindsay up to his room and make love to her, Danny slowly parted his lips from Lindsay's. He gently leaned his forehead against hers, breathing heavily. "I'm sorry, Montana, but I had to. I can't believe that we've gone this long without this."

Lindsay could barely hear Danny over the sound of her heartbeat thudding loudly in her ears. "It's okay," she heard herself say.

"I would love to stay for longer, but Mac would probably have me on one of Sid's tables if I did," said Danny, reluctance laced through his voice. He stroked Lindsay's cheek gently. "Believe me, I don't want to go, but I know we both have our jobs to do."

"Yeah," said Lindsay. "Such is life, I suppose."

"Want to get out of the car so we can properly say goodbye?"

"Sure." Lindsay shut off the ignition, unfastened her seat belt, and jumped down from the driver's seat. She walked around to the passenger's side of the Vue, where Danny had already gotten out. She looked up into his eyes, the blue pools threatening to spill tears. She reached out to embrace him. "Thank you for coming out."

"Anytime, honey." Danny clasped Lindsay's body close. He closed his eyes and reveled in the lavender fragrance of her shampoo. The tears trickled out from under his eyelids, but he let them fall. "I love you, Lindsay."

"I… I love you, Danny." Lindsay drew back slightly, suddenly feeling the gravity of the moment. Her eyes began to fill with tears of their own as she gently wiped at the tear tracks on Danny's face with her fingertips. "This isn't goodbye forever, you know."

"I know. I just wish we had more time together."

"Well, unless we can figure out a way for us to spend more time together without putting our jobs on the line, this is what we'll have to deal with." Lindsay took a step back from Danny slowly. "I should probably get going," she said sadly. She and Danny slowly circled back to the driver's side of the Vue, she holding onto his hand until she had to let go to get into the SUV. She lowered the window as she restarted the SUV, reaching out to touch Danny's face one more time. "Bye Danny," she said, her voice barely above a whisper so as to try to prevent any more tears from falling. "I love you."

"I love you, my Montana," said Danny in a quavering voice, pressing his hand gently over hers.

Lindsay slowly released the brake and the Vue began to inch forward. As much as she hated to do it, she pulled her hand gently from under Danny's, and with one last mouthed "I love you," she drove the Vue towards the frontage road. Swiping at her tears with the back of her hand, Lindsay looked up into the rear view mirror to see Danny still standing under the canopy in front of the hotel. She sighed deeply before turning the Vue onto the frontage road to head for home. She steeled herself to not look back or over at the Country Inn and Suites as she passed by the hotel, now on the opposite side of the freeway from her. Lindsay's vision blurred as more tears glazed over her eyes. She thought about calling Rich, but not knowing if he was still awake or if he had gone home himself, she decided against it. She turned up the volume on her stereo to try and keep her mind off what had just taken place, but not even Keith Urban's voice coming from the radio could distract her. After fidgeting impatiently as the security gate at her townhouse complex rolled open slowly, Lindsay drove the Vue past the open gate and into her assigned parking spot. Once she was inside her townhouse, Lindsay threw her purse onto her couch, ran upstairs without even removing her shoes, threw herself across her bed, clutched one of her pillows, and let the torrent of tears flow. _Damn it, Danny_, she thought, _how do you do it? How do you manage to make me fall in love with you again? You bastard. _Lindsay held the pillow tightly to her, as if she could absorb it to fill the spot in her heart that now felt empty without Danny there.

Meanwhile, Danny had watched the silver SUV as it coasted down the frontage road, then over the bridge to the other side of the freeway. He had fought the temptation to chase after it, despite finding it incredibly painful to watch Lindsay driving away. When he could no longer see the Vue rolling up the freeway, he finally turned to enter the hotel lobby. Biting his lip, he strode quickly through the lobby, to the elevators. Given the late hour, at least two elevator cars greeted him happily with open doors when he pressed the up button. Danny tapped his foot restlessly as the elevator ferried him up to his floor. He hurried from the elevator car, down the hall to his room. After he let himself in, he dropped his keys, phone, and wallet on top of the dresser, and sprawled on his back on the bed. He was feeling that emptiness in his heart again, but this time, it seemed to hurt more. This time, he and his Montana had reconnected. This time, she had told him she loved him. This time, they were being separated, and it seemed that neither one could do anything to stop it.

_Next chapter: Danny and Lindsay try to resume their normal lives, but now that old feelings have been rekindled, how will they cope with the distance?_


	13. Some Semblance of Normalcy, Part 1

**NExSW (Northeast By Southwest) Chapter 13**

**Thanks to all of you who reviewed! I received absolutely NO feedback on Chapter 11, so I thought that everyone had jumped ship. Unlike some authors, I'm not going to withhold new chapters until I get feedback (that's just wrong). This story is my baby, and as long as I'm fine with the finished project, I'm happy (though it doesn't hurt when I feel the lurve from y'all!).**

_**CSI: NY**_** canon characters are the property of CBS. No infringement implied or intended. Original characters are the property of the author (me), who is very particular about who borrows them.**

**Chapter 13: Some Semblance Of Normalcy, Part 1**

Lindsay walked into the Cactus Café and placed her order with the young barista behind the counter. As she waited for her order, she turned up the music on her iPod to try and keep her thoughts off Danny. She was so intent on keeping her thoughts occupied that she didn't notice the ponytailed redhead calling her name.

The redhead gently laid her hand on Lindsay's shoulder, startling her. The redhead smiled and said, "Linds, are you all right?"

When Lindsay saw who had broken her reverie, she smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, Betsy," she said, pulling the earbuds from her ears. At that moment, the barista called her to the pick-up counter. Lindsay picked up her lemon bar and cappuccino, turned back to her friend, and said, "I'm, er, it's kind of complicated."

Betsy nodded. "Danny?" she asked gently.

"Yeah," said Lindsay, adding sugar to her hot drink. "It happened after we went with Bridge to Rich's show at Antone's last night."

"Oh, that's right. Did you have fun? Oh, by the way, I heard on the radio about D.C. Rockwell making a surprise appearance there; was that true?"

"We had fun at Antone's, and yes, D.C. Rockwell did show up. You know, Rich actually knew him from before and never told me? Dork. Anyway, after the show, we all got to meet him and he invited us all back to his hotel suite to hang out and party."

"You lie!" sputtered Betsy, collecting her mocha and lemon-poppy seed muffin from the pick-up counter.

"I'm completely serious!" Lindsay took a bite of her lemon bar. "He's better looking in real life than on TV, and he's a sweetheart and the most normal guy you'll ever meet."

"Wow! Lucky bitch," teased Betsy.

"Don't say I didn't invite you," said Lindsay, waggling her finger at Betsy.

"I know," sighed Betsy. "If I hadn't promised my niece that I would help her with her school project, I so would have been there with y'all. Seriously, though, that is way cool that you got to meet and hang out with D.C. Rockwell, but enough about that; I want to hear about what happened with Danny that's got you all distracted." She dumped two packets of sugar into her coffee as she and Lindsay left the Cactus Café and stepped out from the Texas Union to begin the walk to Welch Hall, where both their offices were, and where Lindsay would be teaching her first class of the day in about an hour.

"Well," started Lindsay, "it all started after Danny, Bridge, and I left D.C.'s hotel last night…"

o-o-o-o-o

"Mac will get you started, okay?" When the young Hispanic man nodded and smiled, Stella Bonasera smiled back at him, then at Mac. "I'll leave you two gentlemen to it." She backed out of Mac's office, turned, and nearly walked into a very distracted and half-sleepy Danny. "Oh! Sorry about that, and welcome back, Danny," she said cheerily.

"Mornin', Stella," mumbled Danny.

Stella looked at Danny with concern. "Oh, Danny. You okay?"

"As well as I can be, I guess." Danny pinched the bridge of his nose.

Stella laid a hand on Danny's arm. "Don't answer if you don't feel like it, but if you don't mind my asking, how did it go with Lindsay?"

Danny smiled slightly at the memory. "It was a bit rough at first, but I think we're okay again. I really did not want to leave Austin this morning."

"That good, huh?"

"Pretty much," answered Danny.

"But?" Danny was grinning, but Stella knew that he was only trying to hide something that was paining him.

Danny looked around. He leaned closer to Stella. Lowering his voice, he asked, "Can we go someplace with fewer people around?"

Stella nodded before leading Danny to the break room. Once inside, Stella said, "So what's bugging you?"

Danny put his hands on his hips and looked up towards the ceiling. "It's, well…" He exhaled a long, slow breath. "Well," he started again, "Lindsay and I, I guess we're okay again, but something feels kind of, I don't know, off."

"What do you mean?"

Danny stuck his hands in his pockets. "She got used to Texas really fast. She's saying 'y'all' and just seems to be very comfortable with Texas and living there."

Stella's nose wrinkled in confusion. "Is that a bad thing?" she asked. She walked to the fridge and peered inside.

"Not so much, I guess, but I'm just scared that she's gotten so comfortable living in Texas that she'll never come back to New York ever again," answered Danny. He felt tears forming in his eyes and tipped his head back slightly to keep them from falling. "She already said that she can't come back just yet, since she just started the new job."

"Well, I can understand that," said Stella, removing a bottle of water from the fridge and shutting the door. "That goes for any job. Look, Danny, you say that you two are okay again, but why are you acting like you've lost her forever?" When Danny seemed unable to get the words out, Stella broached the subject that he was dreading. "Is there another man?"

Danny groaned, his head lolling back. "Sort of, I guess. His name's Bridge. When I caught up with Lindsay, he showed up not too long after, and he seemed a bit too close to her for my taste."

"How so?" Stella tipped her head to the side.

"The day I caught up with Lindsay at her new office, he came in and put his arm around her like she belonged to him, and she let him." Danny tried to keep from wincing from the memory.

"Is that it? You know, I wouldn't worry about it," said Stella soothingly. She took a swig from her water bottle. "I don't see Lindsay as the type to just bounce from one relationship to another. It's just not her style."

"I suppose," mumbled Danny. "I'm just worried that now that I'm back here, he'll move in on her. He already told me that he's interested."

"Really? Huh." Stella's phone began to warble. "Excuse me." She tapped a button on her Palm Treo and raised it to her ear. "Bonasera. All right. I'm in the break room. Okay, see you in a bit." Stella disconnected the call and pocketed her phone. "Sorry about that. I have to go with Angell to a scene. Anyway, I think you're getting a bit overly worked up. If what's-his-name was really interested in Lindsay, I think he'd have tried to push in between you and her while you were there, but considering that you haven't mentioned that something like that actually happened, I'm guessing that it didn't."

Danny reached for the coffee pot and poured himself a cup. "No, it didn't. As a matter of fact, he said he was going to step back and let me make things right with her first before he was going to try anything."

Stella swallowed another gulp of water before she spoke. "There, you see? I think that was pretty big of him to let you do that."

"I guess so. I'm just scared that he might think that because I'm back home, he's won." Danny took a sip of coffee and spit it back out into the cup. "Who made this shit?" He dumped his cup of coffee down the sink and stuck his hand in his pants pocket to reach for some change to buy a soda.

"It's got to be one of the new people who made the coffee," answered Stella. "One of them seems to like their coffee a lot weaker than the rest of us, but I haven't figured out who it is yet. Anyway, you went out there, and Lindsay didn't tell you to screw off and die. You say that things went well between the two of you, so I don't think you have anything to worry about. If Lindsay didn't want to continue things with you, I think that she would have made it clear, and I really don't think that she would lead this other guy on if she didn't like him that way."

The door to the break room opened and Detective Jessica Angell stuck her head inside. "Bonasera, are you ready? Hey, Messer, welcome back."

Danny nodded and managed to get out a half-cheery sounding "Hey Jess, how ya doin'?" as he dropped a few coins into the soda machine along the back wall.

"I'll be right there," called Stella to Angell. She leaned over to Danny, patted him on the shoulder and said, "If you need to talk more about this, you let me know, all right?"

"Sure. Thanks Stella." Danny watched as Stella caught up to Angell and the two women hurried from the break room. He popped his soda open, took a sip of the fizzy liquid, closed his eyes, and sighed as he leaned back against the soda machine. He checked his watch and cursed the display. Today was going to be one of the longest days on record.

o-o-o-o-o

"Wow," breathed Betsy. "So what now?"

Lindsay spun the foam on top of her cappuccino with a wooden stirrer. "Nothing else I can do. I can't just bail on this job because I miss Danny. Hopefully, I'll be able to take a trip to New York during the summer break and visit him and my other friends up there. Until then, all I've got is e-mail and phone."

"That sucks." Betsy broke off a piece of her muffin, which sat on Lindsay's desk, and took a bite. "I can't ever do that again."

"Do what again?"

"Be in a long distance relationship," answered Betsy. "Been there, done that, never again."

"Why? What happened? Did you just grow apart?" Lindsay ate the final bite of her lemon bar and brushed the crumbs off her lap.

"Not so much. He just started playing house with some other girl." Betsy put another morsel of her muffin into her mouth and chased it down with some mocha. "I was staying faithful, and when I found out about what he was doing, I kicked his ass to the curb."

"What was his excuse?"

"He said he was lonely."

"Oh, right," snorted Lindsay. "like you weren't lonely without him."

"I know! I _was_ lonely, but I didn't go jumping into bed with the next cute guy who came along, and believe me, I was tempted." Betsy popped another piece of muffin into her mouth. "Of course, he never told either one of us about the other."

"What a scumbag," said Lindsay. "How did you find out?"

Betsy smirked. "She called me herself and told me. Apparently, he had marked on his calendar a day he was coming to visit me, and he had drawn happy faces and hearts on it. When she saw it, she confronted him, and that's when he admitted to her that he wasn't really invested in their relationship; sure, he liked her, but he just had her there so he wouldn't be alone and he would eventually be coming back to Texas, and to me."

"Wow. I guess she did the both of you a favor."

"She at least did me one. You'd think that she'd have dropped his sorry butt, too, but she continued to cling to him because she was really insecure; even after he started begging me for another chance, she refused to let him go. She probably thinks she won because she eventually married him, but whatever. If he was the prize in all this, then I'm glad I 'lost.' Anyway," Betsy continued, "are you sure you want to do the long distance relationship thing with Danny? I mean, how can you be sure he won't break your heart yet again?"

Lindsay rolled a bit of her cappuccino on her tongue before swallowing. "I have to trust him. It's difficult, considering that he's held back from me before, but I'll admit that I've held back from him before, and he still wants us to work out. I ran home to Montana and out here to Texas, and both times he gave chase. If he didn't really care so much, he would have just let me go. I don't know the guy you were with, of course, but it just seems like he was sorry that he got caught, right?"

Betsy nodded. "He did keep saying that he was sorry, but I wasn't buying it. If he was really sorry, he would have at least apologized for hurting me and betraying my trust, but all he said was, 'I'm sorry, but I was lonely. Now, please come back to me.'" Betsy smirked sardonically and said, "Doesn't sound to me like he was truly sorry."

Lindsay sighed. "Sure doesn't. Anyway, Danny actually was sorry that he had hurt me as deeply as he did. I guess I was so angry with him that I couldn't see that before I made the decision to move out here. Maybe it was because I actually saw that bitch all over him." Lindsay took another sip of her cappuccino.

"Oh, no way!" exclaimed Betsy. When Lindsay nodded, Betsy added, "Ouch. Can't say I blame you for being steamed about it."

"You should have seen what I did to this flower arrangement he sent to the lab to apologize!" continued Lindsay, chuckling. "Thinking back now, I suppose I overreacted a bit, but what's done is done. We'll just have to take things a day at a time, I suppose."

"Well, good luck with that," said Betsy, grinning. She stood up from her seat across from Lindsay and picked up the remains of her muffin and coffee. "Anyway, I won't keep you any longer. I know you have a few things to do before you have your class. We're still doing lunch, right?"

"Yeah," said Lindsay. "Double Dave's at 12:30."

"Okay. See you then. Bye, Lindsay." Betsy turned to leave Lindsay's office.

"See you, Betsy." Lindsay popped the last bite of her lemon bar into her mouth and followed it with a sip of cappuccino. She was about to turn her attention to her computer screen when her foot bumped the messenger bag propped up against the left file drawer of her desk. Lindsay looked down at the bag, then picked it up, opened it, and searched inside. She withdrew a 5x7 picture frame from the bag and propped it up on her desk next to her computer screen. Smiling at the photo of herself with Danny, with Flack in the background making bunny ears on both of them, Lindsay clicked on her e-mail.

_Thanks for reading! Reviews are highly appreciated. ^_^ _


	14. Some Semblance of Normalcy, Part 2

**NExSW (Northeast By Southwest) Chapter 14**

**It's suddenly occurred to me that my timeline is about a day off. Using Chapter 8 as a guide, it would be reasonable to conclude that I have Lindsay and Bridge actually working on a Saturday in this chapter! Since their respective careers do not include working on the weekends, I will have to go back and adjust the timeline mentioned previously.**

**As November 26 rapidly approaches, I declare that this story is now officially 100% AU (as opposed to just fairly AU as I had indicated in Chapter 1; all you spoiler-free folks will see what I mean in due time). I don't know if there are still people out there who do not know about the spoiler, but I will not reveal it out of respect for them.**

**This chapter is dedicated to the memory of Frank Sotelo (1984-2008). Godspeed, Frank. We will miss you.**

_**CSI: NY**_** characters are the property of CBS. No infringement is intended. Original characters are the property of Crystal Blue Montana and not available for rental. *tee hee***

**Chapter 14: The Lines of Communication, or Some Semblance of Normalcy, Part 2**

Danny tossed his keys onto his dining room table. He went to the refrigerator to retrieve a bottle of water, then flopped back onto his couch. He began to replay the events that had taken place after Stella had left the break room with Angell.

Even though he had to spend most of the day catching up on everything he had missed while he had been in Texas, Danny did briefly get to meet the newest member of the field team. Formerly with the LAPD, Frank Costas was a friendly and meticulous Hispanic man about Danny's age and height. Frank's enthusiasm reminded Danny of Lindsay's first few days at the crime lab, and about the only thing wrong with the guy, as far as Danny was concerned, was that he was a lifelong Dodgers fan. Despite that, Frank seemed to Danny to be a decent enough guy, and he looked forward to working with him.

Danny took another gulp from his bottle of water before he rose from the couch to cross to his desk in the corner of the den. He switched on his computer and DSL modem, then headed to his bedroom to change into a fresh tank top and sweatpants. When he re-entered the den, he took his seat in front of his computer and pulled up his e-mail. He scanned the column of unread e-mails, finding the usual glut of get-rich-quick schemes and ads for cheap male enhancement pills among the few actual legitimate e-mails he had from Flack and Adam, among others. He had selected the whole column, sparing the e-mails that he actually wanted to read, and was about to banish it to the trash when he spotted one e-mail towards the bottom of the column that made him double take. He sent the junk e-mails to the trash and eagerly clicked open the e-mail that piqued his curiosity:

_To: dmesser73 at hotmail dot com_

_Fr: lmonroe6 at sci dot utexas dot edu_

_There's a cowboy who's very much missed in Texas._

_Montana_

Danny felt his heartbeat accelerate. He re-read Lindsay's e-mail several times, each time imagining that her voice was coming through the words. He thought for a minute, then typed his response and sent it off.

o-o-o-o-o

The next morning, Lindsay turned the light on in her office and set her cappuccino and blueberry scone on her desk. She turned on her computer and had just sat down when she heard a knock on the door. She looked up to see Bridge leaning against the door frame. "Well, hello, Bridge. I wasn't expecting to see you until later." She stood up to greet him.

Bridge ambled into Lindsay's office and gave her a hug and a peck on the cheek. "I'm headed back to the office, but I decided to stop and see how you were doing." His eyes suddenly fell on the picture frame sitting next to the computer screen, and he felt his heart drop somewhat. "I kind of missed you yesterday."

Lindsay looked up at Bridge. "Sorry about that," she said. "I kind of wasn't in the mood to see people anyway yesterday."

Bridge looked back at the picture frame. "That's, er, a cute picture of you and Danny. Who's that in the background?"

"That," answered Lindsay, "is the famous, or infamous, Don Flack. This was at Mac's birthday party last year." She grinned, suddenly remembering the lively festivities, particularly Sid Hammerback becoming, as Adam had eloquently called it, "shit-faced out of his gourd" and making drunken declarations and displays of love seemingly to everyone and everything that crossed his path.

"He's a nice lookin' fellow," remarked Bridge. He looked back at Lindsay and asked, "So how are you doing, sweetheart?"

"Okay, I guess." Lindsay sat back down and picked up her cappuccino.

"You know, you're a terrible liar, Lindsay." Bridge grinned.

Lindsay looked up at Bridge, who now leaned back against her desk. "You're absolutely right, Bridge. I am a terrible liar," she sighed.

"Want to talk about it?" asked Bridge, even though he was sure he knew what had Lindsay in a bit of a funk.

"If you don't mind," answered Lindsay. When Bridge smiled and nodded, Lindsay sighed and continued. "Basically, I miss Danny."

Despite anticipating correctly why Lindsay was feeling deflated, Bridge found that the words still hurt. "He's back in New York, isn't he?"

Lindsay nodded. "He flew back yesterday. The night before, we got to really talk things out, and I think I fell in love with him all over again."

"You can't," Bridge blurted out before he was able to stop himself.

"Why not?" asked Lindsay, puzzlement on her face.

_Because I want you. I want to be the one to make you happy_, thought Bridge. Flailing desperately for a way out, he stammered, "Because, um, because don't you think you're maybe, uh, rushing things or getting caught up in the moment?"

"I asked myself the same thing all yesterday," Lindsay replied. "The more I thought about it, the more I knew that it was real. Danny and I have had some rough times before, but what couple hasn't? If we can survive being apart like this, then we were meant to be." She took a sip from her cappuccino.

"How long before you decide to throw in the towel?"

"I can't say for certain, but I'm sure I'll know when. All I can really do is take things a day at a time," said Lindsay. "Why do you ask?"

"No reason," Bridge said. "I care about you, and I just don't want to see you hurt is all." He reached out for Lindsay's hand.

"You are absolutely sweet, you know that? I'll be fine. Thank you, though." Lindsay squeezed Bridge's hand and smiled at him.

Bridge tried to put on his sunniest smile. "Anytime." He looked down at his watch. "I have to get back to the office now, but you call me if you need anything, all right? You want to go grab a bite or a drink later?"

"It sounds great, but not today, sorry," answered Lindsay. "I'm going out with Betsy and Midori for a girls' night later. If you're going to be up late, though, I can call or text you and we'll see about doing something tomorrow."

"All right," said Bridge. "I'll be waiting for you, then. Take care of yourself." Bridge leaned in and kissed Lindsay's cheek. His lips lingered slightly on the spot where he had kissed her before he reluctantly pulled back. He kept smiling as he left Lindsay's office, but as soon as he stepped outside of Welch Hall, his smile evaporated and his shoulders slumped. He felt the tears coming, so he fumbled in his jacket pocket, pulled out his prescription sunglasses, and swapped them for his regular glasses after flicking the teardrops away from his eyes. He exhaled heavily before shuffling down Speedway Boulevard to where he had parked his car.

Lindsay sat frowning after Bridge had left. _That was odd_, she thought. _Oh well. I'm not going to sweat it. _She shook her head and rubbed her eyes before opening her e-mail inbox. Aside from the usual University communiqués was an e-mail that made her smile broadly at the same time as it caused her eyes to fill with tears:

_Fr: dmesser73 at hotmail dot com_

_To: lmonroe6 at sci dot utexas dot edu_

_Texas may miss the cowboy, but the cowboy misses Montana more._

_D_

"You dork," whispered Lindsay. She poised her keys over the keyboard to type out her response, but she thought better of it and began to rummage through her messenger bag.

o-o-o-o-o

As he walked through the hall of the lab alongside Frank, Danny asked, "So how do you like New York?"

Frank chuckled. "It's different from L.A., of course, but I quite like it so far. My wife and little boy seem to be adjusting all right, too."

"Better than L.A., you think?" asked Danny mischievously.

"Oh, I don't know about that, dude. It's too early to say. I'll have to see how it goes, come baseball season. I already know I'm going to miss my Dodgers season tickets."

"Aw, once we get you to Citi Field to take in the Mets, you'll forget all about the Dodgers, my man."

"Somehow, I doubt it." Frank laughed. "You're welcome to try, though."

At that moment, a short trill came from Danny's front pocket and he felt a pulse tickle his leg. "What the hell?" He fished his cell phone from his pocket. "I think I got a text." He snapped his phone open and opened the message. His eyes lit up. "Boom!"

"What is it?"

"The text; it's from Lindsay!" beamed Danny.

"She's your lady, right? The one who used to work here?" asked Frank.

Danny nodded, took his wallet out of his back pocket, and extracted a small photo from it. He held the photo out to Frank. "That's her."

Frank peered at the photo, which Danny and Lindsay had taken together in a photo booth on Coney Island. His eyebrows raised, and he nodded appreciatively. "She's beautiful," he remarked. "You two look good together." Frank reached behind his neck to unfasten a chain and drew a silver locket from under his shirt. He opened the locket and showed it to Danny. "That's Ana and our son Renny."

The photo in Frank's locket featured him looking lovingly at a pretty Hispanic woman who was smiling serenely at a wide-eyed baby in her arms. All three were dressed all in white. Danny's eyes widened. "Aw, she's beautiful, too," he said. "So's your kid. He looks just like you." He smiled.

"Thank you," said Frank. He refastened the locket around his neck and tucked it back under his shirt. "It's from a few years ago. Renny's three now. So when do you get to see Lindsay again?"

Danny sighed as he slipped his photo back in his wallet. "I just came back from visiting her in Texas yesterday. I don't know when I'll get to go back."

"Dude, that sucks. Sorry to hear that," said Frank. The two men had reached their destination, the briefing room, and now stood outside the door.

"What can I do?" Danny shrugged. "I just have to wait until I get the time and the cabbage to make another trip. Anyway, I'll catch up with you inside. I'm going to check out my text first."

"No problem, dude." Frank smiled as he opened the door to the briefing room and stepped inside.

Danny peered at the phone's screen. The text from Lindsay simply read "Hi cowboy" and had a link to what appeared to be a video clip. He opened the link, and, sure enough, a clear, though low-resolution, video filled the phone's screen.

On the video screen was Lindsay's smiling face. "Hi Danny. I thought you might appreciate this more than just e-mailing back and forth. Anyway, I sure do miss you out here. Hopefully, I'll be able to come out to New York and visit you during the summer break, unless they decide that they need me to teach summer school or something. Anyway, just wanted to say hi, and I'll try to call or text you later. Please tell everyone hi for me. I love you, Danny." Lindsay pressed a kiss to her fingertips and blew it towards the camera.

Danny smiled and held the phone to his heart. _That's my girl_, he thought. He replayed the video once more before pressing "save message" on his phone and pocketing it before he stepped into the briefing room.

o-o-o-o-o

Lindsay stroked a comb through her hair. She checked the display on her phone. Making good time, she thought. She had thought she was going to be running behind for her girls' night out, having spent a good amount of time under the shower spray thinking about her conversation with Bridge earlier in the day.

_I suppose Midori's right about him. I just hope I didn't hurt him too badly with the whole thing about Danny and me. Still, I don't want to give him false hope just because Danny's back in New York. He's got to know that I'm not interested in him like that… right?_

Lindsay sighed. Times like this occasionally made her wish that she was still single. Her phone began to sing "Big Sky Firebird." Lindsay picked it up and said, "Hey you."

"Hey you yourself," said Rich. "How're you doing?"

"All right," answered Lindsay. "I'm just getting ready to go out with Midori and Betsy. What's up?"

"Big news. When you meet up with Midori later, she'll know it already, because I've already told her and the guys. You sitting down?"

"Just tell me!"

"All right then. D.C. wants me to come to L.A. to work with him on his CD!"

Lindsay nearly dropped the phone. "Oh my goodness, Rich, that's fantastic! Congratulations! When?"

"Not for another month or so," answered Rich, "but how could I refuse?"

"How could you, indeed. Will you be touring with him, too? What about Mick, Midori, and everyone else?"

"We haven't thought that far ahead yet. I'm just stoked to have this opportunity, you know? But anyway, how are you holding up? Have you heard from Danny?"

Lindsay smiled as she set down her comb. "We've e-mailed each other once, and I sent him a video message. I haven't heard back yet, but he's probably working a case. I'm not worried. Yet."

"Well, you just let me know if and when I need to kick his ass, okay?"

Lindsay laughed. "No problem."

Rich grinned as he rolled a piece of tuna roll between his fingers as he dipped it in soy sauce. "Well, listen. I won't keep you any longer. I just wanted to tell you the news and make sure you're okay. Call me if you need to, all right?"

"Thanks Rich. And congrats again. Bye." Lindsay clicked off her phone and set it back onto the bathroom counter. She picked up her makeup brush and began to lightly dust foundation powder on her face. Just as she was almost done, her phone piped up again. This time, it was her message alert, the sound of a soda can being opened. Lindsay picked up her phone again, and was delighted to see Danny's face on the display. She clicked the button to open the message and found a video message within:

"Hey, Montana. Thanks for sending me the video. It really brightened my day. Man, I miss you like you wouldn't believe. I'm sorry I didn't get to message you sooner, but Frank, that's the new guy, he and I were working hard on this triple homicide in Brooklyn today and we didn't get back until just a few minutes ago. Anyway, everyone out here misses you and they hope you'll be able to visit soon. Take care of yourself and say hi to all your friends for me. I love you."

"Awww." Lindsay held the phone to her heart, a wide smile spread over her face. She continued to hold the phone close to her, only putting it down once, so she could put on her eyeliner. As soon as she had finished fixing her hair and makeup, she wiggled into a smart black blazer and stepped into a pair of simple black pumps. She withdrew her Bluetooth earpiece from her purse, which she slung over her shoulder. She fixed the earpiece in place as she ran down the stairs, grabbed her car keys, and bounded out the door.

o-o-o-o-o

Danny sat low on his couch, absently tossing a baseball up in the air and catching it. Even though it was a Friday night, he had declined several offers he had been extended to go to various watering holes. He did agree to meet Flack at a local park for hoops on Saturday, and because Frank was adamant that Danny get a taste of what he called Ana's 'to kill or die for' tamales, Danny agreed to join the Costas family for Sunday dinner. Until then, he hoped to not be able to interact with people outside of work.

Danny's cell phone, which sat on his coffee table, began to sing his generic ringtone, "What'cha Want" by the Beastie Boys. He groaned. He watched his phone skitter on the table top for a few seconds before he picked it up. "Messer," he mumbled, uninterested.

"Well, if you don't want to talk to me, I'll hang up. I'm driving anyway."

Danny's eyes opened wide, and he shot up straight in his seat. "No, no, no, don't hang up. Please. I'm, uh, I'm really glad you called. How ya doin'?" He set the baseball onto the coffee table and leaned forward, resting his free hand on his thigh, making a mental note that he would need to save Lindsay's number to his address book when their conversation was finished.

_As always, reviews are much appreciated. Thanks for reading!_


	15. Call Me Again

**NExSW (Northeast by Southwest) Chapter 15**

**How awesome were "The Box," "The Triangle," and "Forbidden Fruit"? I'm still squeeing.**

**This is about the fourth or fifth rewrite of this chapter. I know how I want to end this story; it's just getting there that's the hard part, and also factoring in real life obligations and stresses, I apologize for taking such a long time between chapters. Thanks to everyone who is still reading (whether or not you've left a review).**

**This chapter takes place about a month after Chapter 14.**

_**CSI: NY**_** characters are property of CBS. Original characters are the property of the author. No infringement is intended or implied.**

**Chapter 15: Call Me Again**

_Sunday, 9:45 AM CST_

"Messer."

"Good morning, cowboy."

"Hey there, Montana. How you doin'? You guys have fun last night?"

"We had a pretty good time. It's going to be weird, though, not having Rich around for a while."

"Where did you guys go again?"

"It was this French restaurant called Peché. Midori found that they have an absinthe bar, and she's been wanting to try the stuff, so she figured that she'd kill two birds with one stone. I took a sip of one that Midori ordered, and I'm not sure if I like it or not. They do have good food there, though."

"You know, I think I've heard something about absinthe being an aphrodisiac. Maybe you and I ought to see if it's true sometime."

"Ooh, maybe. Maybe I'll have to get some for the next time you come down. I'll ask Midori if she remembers which one of the several that she tried that she liked best."

"So she tried several? Did she get plastered?"

"She seemed a bit buzzed, but not anywhere close to how bad Bridge got."

"Oh? He get totally shit-faced?"

"Yeah. Not absinthe, though. He had a lot of gin and tonics. I don't remember ever seeing him drink that much. Mick had to take him home; he drove Bridge's car and I drove Mick's with Midori riding shotgun so that once Mick made sure Bridge was home safe, he could take me back to Peché to get my SUV, then take Midori home."

"Huh. Didn't think Bridge would be the type to get drunk off his ass. What kind of a drunk was he?"

"Oh, uh, he was, um… I suppose you could call him a melancholy drunk. Yeah." Lindsay shifted uncomfortably.

"That would have been something to see."

"Oh, it was… interesting, to say the least. Anyway, I just thought I'd call and say good morning and to tell you that Rich is off safely to L.A. He said he'd call me as soon as he's landed. Anyway, how'd it go with that new lab girl, what's her name, Debbie?"

"Ugh. I don't think she took it well, especially when she found out that you're not in New York. She really needs to get a clue; I'm not interested in her at all. She's not my type anyway."

"Oh? So what is your type, Mr. Messer?"

"Tall, blonde, blue-eyed bombshells with big-ass silicone boobs, of course."

"Ah, same way that I'm into the redheaded, tanned bodybuilder types?"

"Wiseass."

"You started it."

"Me? You had to ask what my type was."

"So I did, and you gave the wrong answer, so I had to penalize you for that."

"Heh. Damn it, but I miss you."

"I miss you, too. I miss you so much that I can't stand it."

"Hopefully, I can get the time off in July to come back. I'll talk to Mac about it the next time I see him."

"Nice. Hey, I don't want to go, but I thought I'd call you before I drove Rich to the airport and I have to go pick him up now."

"All right. You tell him that I say 'good luck in L.A., and say hi to D.C. for me,' all right?"

"Of course. Take care and tell everyone at the lab hi for me."

"You got it, Montana. I'll talk to you later. I love you, honey."

"I love you, Danny. Bye."

"Bye."

--------

_Sunday, 11:32 AM CST_

"Hello?"

"Well, good morning, sleeping prince."

"Oh, hey Mick."

"How're you feeling this glorious morning?"

"Like someone's putting a jackhammer to my head."

"Not surprising. You were pretty wasted last night."

"Yeah, about that. How did I get home? I don't remember driving."

"You didn't. I drove you in your car. Lindsay and Midori followed in my car so we could all go back to Peché afterwards and head home from there."

"Thanks man. I seriously owe you one. I'm really sorry if I got completely shit-faced."

"Well, I'm not actually the one you probably need to apologize to. Do you even remember what you did?"

"Did I say something out of line to Midori? I'm sorry if– "

"No, not to Midori."

A long pause. "Lindsay?" Bridge asked weakly.

"Yep."

"Oh, shit. Ow!" Bridge clutched his head. "Exactly what did I say?"

"I couldn't quite hear because I was on the other side of the table, but Rich mentioned something about you saying 'it's all Danny's fault' or something like that."

"'It's all Danny's fault'? Aw, man. I guess Lindsay heard?"

"Heard? I think you were addressing her when you said it."

"Seriously?"

"I kid you not." Silence. "Bridge?"

"I'm still here. Hopefully, that's all I did?"

"If I said yes, I'd be lying. Bridge, you grabbed Lindsay and planted a big one on her."

_Oh holy freakin' hell._ "Shit. Boy, I really screwed things up, didn't I?"

"I don't know. You'll have to talk to her."

"Man. Do you know if she's really pissed with me?"

"Don't know. She didn't say much after we left your place, and I didn't think she really wanted to talk about it anyway. There's only one way to find out."

"Damn it." Bridge blew out a long breath of air.

"Well, good luck with Lindsay. I need to get moving, but I just wanted to call and make sure you hadn't died from alcohol poisoning or something. You need anything, you call, all right?"

"All right. Thanks, Mick. See ya."

"Bye."

--------

_Sunday, 1:04 PM CST_

"Hello?"

"Betsy?"

"Hi Lindsay. How was the party last night?"

"You are not going to believe what happened."

"Oh really? Try me."

"It all started out okay, but let's just say that Bridge got really stinking drunk, then started whining about why wouldn't I love him, and that it was all Danny's fault that I wouldn't. Then before I knew what was going on, he had grabbed me and kissed me."

"What? Are you serious?"

"Dead serious."

"Was he a good kisser?"

"Betsy!"

"Sorry, sorry. I know that you think he's sweet and all that, but you don't like him like that. Seriously, though, how was it? Did you kiss him back?"

"For someone who was drunk out of his mind, he was pretty good. I'm not saying that I want him to kiss me again, but you know what I'm saying?"

"I guess. You didn't answer my question about if you kissed Bridge back or not, though."

"Not exactly, but I'll admit it felt nice. I haven't been kissed like that since Danny came to visit. Anyway, I got my bearings back quickly, pushed him off me, and moved closer to Rich so he could protect me, and Mick and Ron jumped up to hold onto Bridge. He was really causing a scene, so the guys got him out of there and we all called it a night."

"Wow. So what now? Did you tell Danny?"

"Not yet. I'm scared to. Maybe I should wait to tell him, after I talk to Bridge about what happened."

"Are you kidding me? You should tell Danny as soon as possible. As for Bridge, I think that _he's_ the one who needs to approach _you_. You didn't do anything to cause what happened, so you don't owe him an apology."

"I don't know. I could have been more upfront with him about not being interested in that sort of relationship."

"Linds, with the way you talk about Danny, I think that _I'm_ the one in love with him sometimes. What I mean by that is that everyone knows just how much you love him. Even Bridge has to know, even though he went way over the line last night."

"I guess so."

"Really, it's not your problem. You shouldn't beat yourself up over it. The ball's in his court."

"You're right. We'll just have to see."

"All right. Hey, Linds, I don't mean to cut this short, but I was actually headed out the door when you called. I'll call you later. Oh, and will you tell Rich that I wish him luck in L.A., the next time you talk to him?"

"I will. Talk to you later. Bye."

"Bye."

--------

_Sunday, 3:45 PM CST_

"Hello?"

"Linds! I'm at LAX. I just landed about twenty minutes ago."

"Hi Rich! Thanks for calling. How was the flight?"

"S'alright. D.C.'s sent someone to pick me up and take me to his place. We're headed to the baggage claim. So has Bridge talked to you yet?"

"No. I talked to Betsy about what happened last night, and she thinks that I should wait for him to come to me. Oh, and she says, 'good luck' to you."

"Aw, tell her I said thanks. Anyway, Betsy's right. Bridge is the one who's got some explaining to do, not you. Don't you think otherwise."

"Yeah, that's what she said. I can't help thinking that I could have been more forthcoming about how I feel about Danny."

"Linds, what else are you supposed to do; light up a neon billboard that says, 'I love Danny'? As far as any of us can tell, you're very much in love with Danny."

"Yes I am. Shoot, I have another call coming in."

"Okay, I'll let you go. They should be starting up the baggage carousel soon, and I want to hurry up, grab my stuff, and get to D.C.'s ASAP. Take care, and good luck. I'll tell D.C. you say hi. Love you."

"Okay, good luck in L.A., Rich. Love you, too, bye." Lindsay clicked over to the other call. "Hello?"

"Lindsay, it's me. Please don't hang up."

"Oh, hi."

"I want to talk about what happened last night."

"Okay."

"Please don't be mad at me."

"I'm not mad at you. I don't even know how I'm feeling right now."

"Look, I, uh, I'm really sorry about what I did and said. It was, um, not like me at all."

"That's an understatement."

"Lindsay, really, I'm sorry. I don't know how to make it up to you. Ummm… will you meet me at the Kerbey Lane on South Lamar in an hour?"

"Why?"

"I promise I'll be good. I just figured that it'd be better if we talked about this face to face."

"I… I have to think about it."

"I understand. All right, I'm going to wash up. I hope to see you. I, er, take care of yourself."

Lindsay clicked off her cell phone without saying a word and placed it on the coffee table. She sat on her couch, a blank look on her face.

_What's Lindsay's next move? Will she accept Bridge's invite, after what he did the night before? What will she tell Danny, if she decides to tell him? Will it be another month until the next chapter? The answer to the last question is hopefully not; Chapter 16 is already underway, and it will address at least the first two of the three previous questions._


	16. That Communication Thing

**NExSW (Northeast By Southwest) Chapter 16**

**Has this not been one heck of an awesome season of **_**CSI: NY**_** so far?**

**If anyone was confused by the last chapter, hopefully, things will make a bit more sense in this one. It does recap events that were described previously.**

_**CSI: NY**_** and all canon characters are the property of CBS. No infringement is intended. Original characters are the property of the author.**

**Chapter 16: That Communication Thing**

Lindsay sat cross-legged on her couch clutching a throw pillow, her phone on the coffee table in front of her. As much as she wanted to believe Bridge when he had said that he would behave himself, a voice inside her begged her not to. She couldn't remember the last time she had felt as uneasy as she had last night, which had actually started out quite nicely. The group was having a sendoff party for Rich on the eve of his flight to Los Angeles to join D.C. in the recording studio. In the midst of the festivities, Danny had called, and Lindsay had gotten up from the table to take the call…

_(flashback)_

"_Aw, Danny." Lindsay leaned against the wall of the restaurant's exterior._

"_It's the honest truth, Montana." Danny said. "I love you, and I'm gonna make Debbie understand that whether she likes it or not. I've tried going about it the nice way, but she doesn't seem to take the hint. Anyway, I'll let you get back to your party. Tell everyone that I said hello, and tell Rich I say 'good luck in L.A.,' all right?"_

"_I will. I'll talk to you tomorrow, then."_

"_Have fun, good night, and I love you."_

"_I love you." Lindsay cradled the phone to her heart. For days, Danny had told her about his increasing frustration with one of the new lab assistants, a young woman who was either unable or unwilling to understand that he had zero interest in her socially. To hear that Danny was going to tell this young woman exactly that made her heart feel like it was floating. Sighing happily, she stepped back inside Peché to rejoin her table._

_(end flashback)_

Lindsay hugged the pillow tighter. Just the recollection of her conversation with Danny the night before gave her a pleasant warm feeling. Another recollection, however, pushed the warm feelings aside and made her shiver uncomfortably.

_(flashback)_

"_Bridge, you're drunk. Settle down," hissed Lindsay._

"_Yeah? Well, it's all Danny's fault." Bridge blinked unsteadily._

"_What the hell are you talking about?"_

"_It's all Danny's fault that you say I'm drunk."_ _Bridge downed the remainder of his gin and tonic in one gulp. "Why did he have to come chasing after you? Why? If he would have just let you be, you'd, you'd be happy. I'd be happy. Fuck, we'd both be happy."_

_Lindsay edged herself closer to Rich. _What the hell is his problem?_, she thought._

"_Lindsay," whined Bridge. "I love you. Why can't you love me, too? Why do you still have to love Danny?" Before Lindsay could react, Bridge had leaned over, grabbed her by the shoulders, and fastened his lips to hers._

_Lindsay squeaked in shock, then shoved Bridge back, hard enough that he nearly fell off his chair and she fell backwards against Rich. She scooted her chair closer to Rich, who tucked her under his arm as Mick and Ron jumped up from their seats to hold onto Bridge._

"_Lindsay, please," begged Bridge. "I love you, Lindsay." He struggled against the strong hands of Mick and Ron._

_Lindsay curled her fingers around Rich's arm around her. "Just how many of those gin and tonics has he had?"_

"_Honestly, I haven't been paying attention, but I'm sure that he had at least a couple when you were outside talking to Danny." Rich looked up at Ron and Mick, each holding one of Bridge's arms. "Get him outside. We'll meet you in the parking lot." He sighed as he looked sadly from Lindsay to Daryl and Midori seated across from them. "I guess we're calling it a night then."_

_(end flashback)_

Lindsay fidgeted as she looked down at her cell phone. Taking a deep breath, she scooped up her phone, flipped it open, and scrolled through her call list.

o-o-o-o-o

Bridge sat at a booth inside the Kerbey Lane Café. The pounding in his head had given way to a blunt ache. He pressed a glass of ice water against his forehead and lost himself in the relief the cold gave him.

"Bridge?"

Bridge opened his eyes and looked up. Lindsay had seated herself across from him. The sight of her made his heart skip, but he noticed that there was something different about her. Though her hair was combed, her complexion seemed washed-out, as if she had skipped putting on makeup. She wore a New York Giants jersey that was obviously too large for her, and he surmised that the garment had once been Danny's. "Hey, Lindsay," he said gently. "Can I get you anything? Coffee?"

"I'll get it, thanks," answered Lindsay. When the server came to the table, Lindsay ordered a large glass of orange juice, stressing to the young man that her order was to be on a separate check. She turned her attention back to Bridge. "So. I'm here."

"Thank you for coming," said Bridge. He looked down at his coffee cup, suddenly feeling quite uncomfortable.

Lindsay stared at the framed postcards tacked to the wall next to her, not knowing what she should say. She gave the server a polite smile and thanks when he set her glass of juice on the table in front of her. Turning her gaze back to the wall, she said softly, "Well?"

Bridge cleared his throat. "I know what I did went way over the line, and I want to apologize for that. The fact that I was drunk off my ass when it happened is no excuse." When Lindsay didn't react, he continued, "I, uh, I guess you know how I really feel about you."

Lindsay looked at Bridge. "Why don't you tell me? Who was doing the talking, you or the alcohol?"

Bridge sighed. He felt his face get warm, and he looked down at the cup of coffee in front of him. "I can't lie to you, Lindsay." He looked up from his coffee cup.

o-o-o-o-o

Danny slammed his fist against the tabletop in the break room, nearly upsetting his can of Red Bull. He removed his glasses, pinched the bridge of his nose, and sighed. He felt the tears filling his eyes and pressed his fingertips over his eyelids to make it seem like he was rubbing his eyes out of fatigue, in case anyone else happened to enter the break room. Sure enough, when he opened his eyes again, he saw a tall figure that, even with his myopic vision, he recognized as Flack.

Flack turned to face Danny, a bottle of water in his hand. "Rough day, Dan?"

Danny put his glasses back on and looked over at Flack, who had uncapped his water bottle to take a swig. "Didn't start out that way, but I just got a phone call from Lindsay, and now I'm pissed off."

"Pissed off at Lindsay? What did she do?"

"I'm not pissed at her. It's that friend of hers I'm pissed at. That son of a bitch Bridge." Danny finished his Red Bull and crushed the can in his fist. "He kissed her, Flack," he said softly.

Flack's eyebrows raised. "He did what?"

"He kissed her." Danny felt the tears building in his eyes again, and he blinked them back. "I wasn't there to stop him from doing it. He knew that she wasn't interested, but he did it anyway."

"Well, did she let him?"

"She said it happened so quickly, he was already on her before she could react, but she did fight him off. She also said he was drunk off his ass, so that probably had something to do with it, too. I'm just glad that her cousin and his friends were there to save her. What if she'd been alone with him?"

Flack finished off his water and dropped the empty bottle in the trash. "Danny, get a hold of yourself. I completely understand why you'd be all worked up, but she fought him off, right?"

"Yeah, she did."

"So what's the problem, then?"

Danny sighed. He took aim and threw the crushed can in his hand at the trash barrel next to the counter. The can struck the counter and clattered on the floor. "Shit." He got up to pick up the wad of crumpled aluminum and drop it in the trash. "I'm just, um… well, I used to worry that she'd leave me for him. I don't worry about that anymore, but I'm still concerned about him. I don't know if he's got a breaking point, you know? I just worry about if there'll be a day when he won't take 'no' for an answer."

"I hear you," said Flack. "It wouldn't sit right with me if my girl was around some guy that I knew wanted to hook up with her, but this is Lindsay we're talking about. You know that she's more than capable of taking care of herself." He peered at Danny's face. "Something else is bugging you, isn't it?"

Danny's face began to redden and he seemed to suddenly find a crack in one of the floor tiles quite interesting. "I was, uh, kinda short with Lindsay after she told me what happened. I told her that I wasn't pissed with her, but I don't know if she believes me."

Flack sighed. "You know, even after all that you and Lindsay have been through, you guys still suck at the communication thing. If you're not sure that she knows you're not mad at her, maybe you should reassure her that you're not." He reached out and gave Danny's back a firm pat. "Look, I have to join Carson and Delgado in interrogation right now, but if you still need to talk later, I can join you at Sullivan's, all right?"

"Yeah, thanks, Flack." As the break room door shut behind Flack, Danny leaned against the wall, his eyes shut. _Fuck_, he thought. _I'm so not good at this._ He heard the break room door open again. He cracked his eyes open just enough to see who had entered. When he saw, he thought, _Oh, fuckin' hell._

Debbie, the new lab girl, practically slinked up to Danny. "Hi Danny," she breathed. "What's wrong, honey?" She moved to slip a finger under one of Danny's jacket lapels.

_If violating my personal space was a crime, this girl would be in Riker's for life._ Danny twisted himself away from the wall and from Debbie. "Nothing that concerns you, and don't call me 'honey.' I don't know how many times I have to tell you," he muttered. "Now, if you'll excuse me." He took long, resolute strides out of the break room and walked briskly down the hall. He peered into Mac's office and smiled when he saw Mac inside. Danny knocked softly on the door, and when he heard Mac say, "Come in," he opened the door and walked up to the supervisor's desk. "Hi Mac. I have a couple of things I kind of need to talk with you about."

o-o-o-o-o

Lindsay felt her discomfort rising, but she nevertheless asked, "So you mean…?" Her voice trailed off.

"Lindsay, I'm in love with you. I really am," Bridge blurted out.

Even though Lindsay had half-expected Bridge's answer, she was still struck hard by it. Sure that her face was bright red, she took a sip of her orange juice as nonchalantly as she could.

"Lindsay? Will you say something? Please?"

Lindsay rolled the hem of her shirt between her thumb and forefinger as she exhaled a long, slow breath. "Wow," she finally choked out. She picked up her orange juice and took a long swallow. "Um, I'm, uh, flattered. Really, I am. But you know that I'm not just going to let Danny go. I love him, Bridge. Look, you're a sweetheart, and I value your friendship immensely. I don't know if things would be any different with us if Danny weren't in the picture, but I can't just let him go because he's in New York and I'm out here." She frowned. "I thought you understood how things were with him and me."

"I do, but it's difficult for me, you know?" Bridge laid his hand on the table, close to Lindsay's. "I mean, I'm right here for you, and I want you so much, and it kills me when you talk about Danny the way you do." He suddenly looked worried. "Does he know what happened last night?"

Lindsay nodded, feeling tears filling her eyes. "I called him right before I came." She waved off Bridge's hand as he reached forward to wipe the tears away. "No. Don't."

Bridge felt his stomach sinking. "What did you tell him?"

"I said that you did and said what you did because you were drunk." Lindsay brushed the tears from her eyes and took a deep breath. "He said he wasn't upset with me, but I think he was just saying that. He hung up without telling me 'I love you' like he always does."

Bridge was already feeling awful, but now, he felt even worse. "Lindsay, I-I'm sorry. I wish I could do something to fix things."

By now, Lindsay's vision was blurred with tears, and she blinked, letting the tears roll down her face as she searched through her purse. "No, that's okay. You've done enough already." She sighed sadly and sniffed as she wiped her tears from her cheeks and chin. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that." She grabbed her glass of juice, downed the remainder, slid out of her seat, and stood up. "I have to go."

"Lindsay, wait." Bridge thought about reaching for Lindsay's wrist, but thought better of it and left his hand where it was. "Are you sure you can't stay? I ordered some bread. It should be here soon."

Lindsay looked at Bridge, feeling both sad that he was obviously distressed and uneasy about why. "I'm sure, and I'm sorry." She looked around and spotted the server who had taken her order. She could feel Bridge's eyes on her as she strode quickly up to the server and held a five dollar bill out to him. "I had just the glass of OJ. You can keep the change." She tried to smile at the young man.

"Miss, is everything okay?" asked the server, noticing Lindsay's face and genuinely concerned as he took the bill from her.

"I'm fine, thank you." Lindsay tried to smile sweetly at the young man. She walked quickly to the front entrance, glancing at Bridge one last time before she pushed the door open and started for the parking area.

Bridge watched as Lindsay climbed into her SUV and, after a pause, backed it out of the parking space and guided it out of the parking lot and turned it onto South Lamar. He sighed and turned his attention to Lindsay's empty glass on the table.

The server came to the table with a loaf of bread. "Are you all right, sir? Anything I can get you?" he asked, setting down the bread and picking up the empty glass.

"I'm okay, thanks." Bridge had thought about chasing after Lindsay and begging her to stay with him, if only for just for a few minutes more, but his logical side won out and kept him fastened to his seat. He sighed. _Nice going, jackass_, he thought. _My chances of winning over Lindsay are now probably zero, and Danny's probably on a flight out here to kick my ass._ Bridge groaned and winced as he softly thudded his head on the tabletop.

_Apologies for taking my sweet time with this chapter, but I had to rewrite it a few times before I was satisfied. Chapter 17 is in the works as I write._


	17. What Now?

**NExSW (Northeast By Southwest) Chapter 17**

**For once, I don't really have an opening comment to the upcoming chapter. **

_**CSI: NY**_** characters are the property of CBS, and no infringement is intended or implied. Original characters belong to the conglomerate of Me, Myself, and I.**

**Chapter 17: What Now?**

"Hmmm." Mac clasped his hands on his desk in front of him. "That _is_ serious. I'll definitely make a note of that. So you've told her in no uncertain terms?"

"Yeah," answered Danny. "Just now, when I was in the break room, she got all up in my space and called me 'honey,' after I'd asked her not to."

Mac nodded. "All right. I'll have to have a word with her. You shouldn't have to put up with that."

Danny looked down and toyed with his leather wristband. He smirked. "You know what the funny part about all this is? I thought that if I told Debbie about Lindsay, that she'd back off, but she's gotten a lot more aggressive since. Oh, and speaking of Lindsay…"

o-o-o-o-o

Bridge parked his Eclipse in his garage. He had thought about searching the UT campus for Lindsay, and even going to her townhouse complex, but he quickly dismissed the thought. _I already look pretty crazy to her_, he thought. _I don't want her to start thinking I'm some sort of stalker, too._ He unlocked the door to his house and stepped inside. He dropped his keys on his kitchen counter.

He opened his refrigerator and removed a bottle of tonic water. He was about to reach for the bottle of Tanqueray gin on his bar, but he frowned and stopped himself. Bridge slid the bottle of tonic water back into the shelf on the refrigerator door and picked up a can of Sprite instead. The clear soda was unusually refreshing, and he finished the can in just a few gulps. He popped open another can and carried it to his den, where he plunked himself down on the couch and clicked on his TV. After a few minutes of absently flipping through channels, he picked up his Blackberry and dialed Lindsay's number. When the call went to voicemail after several rings, he disconnected the call and sighed. He wasn't surprised that Lindsay didn't take his call, but knowing that and understanding why didn't make him feel any better. As much as it pained him to do it, he would avoid going to the UT campus for a couple of days. _Maybe after then_, he thought, _I can see if Lindsay would be up to at least meeting for lunch._

o-o-o-o-o

"Thanks Mac," said Danny, as he reached for the door handle of Mac's office. "I really appreciate this."

"You're welcome, Danny." Mac grinned. "And I'll look into that other thing for you." He watched as Danny walked down the hall back to the lab. Mac's smile vanished as he picked up his desk phone and pressed a button on the speed dial.

Down in the crime lab, Stella's phone began to ring. "Mac."

"Stella. Where is Debbie Fulton?"

Stella looked around and spotted the lab assistant; she stood with a Petri dish on the counter in front of her. Debbie had been studying the contents of the Petri dish intently, but as soon as Danny entered the lab, her head snapped up and she stared at him dreamily as he began talking with Adam. "She's right here, Mac," Stella replied.

"Will you have her call me, please?" said Mac. "Tell her it's important."

"All right." Stella clicked off her phone and marched over to where Debbie was. As she relayed Mac's message and watched the younger woman move to the phone on the wall, Stella valiantly tried to suppress a smirk. After Debbie removed her lab coat and stepped out of the lab, Stella walked over to Danny, who had finished his conversation with Adam and was now sitting at a computer terminal. "So Danny, I take it that you told Mac about the unwanted attention you were getting from Debbie?"

Danny pressed ALT-Tab on his keyboard and looked up from the computer screen. "Yeah, how'd you know?"

"Mac just called down here, looking for her." Stella looked over her shoulder. "I guess he asked her to go up and see him in his office." She crouched slightly, slung her arm around Danny's shoulders, and sighed. "With the exception of you with Lindsay, why are you and I such big moron magnets?"

Danny chuckled. "I don't know. We have the tools; think we can isolate the gene that makes that happen?"

"Anything's possible these days." Stella smiled and patted Danny's shoulder. "Maybe we'll work on that during lunch." She straightened up and asked, "Speaking of, we're still on with Frank and Hawkes for that, right?"

"Yeah, I'll meet you guys in the break room at 12:30." Danny turned back to the computer monitor as Stella headed for the door to the hallway. Pressing ALT-Tab to toggle back to the screen he was looking at previously, Danny grinned as he resumed his search.

o-o-o-o-o

Lindsay sat on the hood of her Vue. She stared off at the hills in the distance from the edge of the nearly empty parking lot of Barton Creek Square Mall. The sky, streaked with cirrus clouds, was still mostly blue, but was giving way to varying shades of gold and orange as the sun inched towards the horizon.

Normally, she didn't frequent this particular mall, much less the area, but she wanted to be someplace where one wouldn't normally think to find her. The campus area would have been one of the obvious places for her to go, so she thought that the mall, planted at the top of a hill overlooking MoPac Expressway, would be ideal for what she wanted.

Her cell phone began to sing "Big Sky Firebird." Lindsay's face lit up, but the joy was short-lived as she saw that the caller ID showed Bridge's name and picture. She let the song continue, after which the "missed call" message appeared on her screen.

Bridge's admission still echoed in her head. _Lindsay, I'm in love with you. I really am._ Her heart ached doubly for him; she knew the pain of not having love reciprocated, but knowing that it was her love that he wanted but couldn't have made her feel almost guilty. Still, she knew in her heart that Danny was the one she loved, and she chastised herself for even daring to harbor anything resembling guilt over the situation with Bridge.

Lindsay suddenly began to feel angry, but she wasn't sure of with whom or why. Was she mad at Bridge for causing her to feel such confusion, or was she mad at herself for letting herself be friendly with him in the first place? Perhaps she was upset with Danny for his reaction to what Bridge had done? _It's not like I was begging him to kiss me or anything. 'It's all Danny's fault'? My ass it was._ In any case, Lindsay felt herself aspirating long, angry breaths and she clenched her fists tightly, her nails feeling like they would pierce her palms if she continued to press harder. She wanted to scream, but there were still too many people around, even if the mall was about to close for the evening. Lindsay sighed. She almost wished that Rich hadn't flown to Los Angeles, because she needed him very much right then. She picked up her phone at looked at it, as if it was about to jump up and bite her. She debated calling Rich, but wondered if she would be interrupting something important.

As Lindsay continued to stare at the device in her palm, it came alive once more; this time, to the tune of Journey's "Don't Stop Believing." Lindsay's heart began to beat faster. She had set that particular ringtone for just one person: Danny. She was thankful that he could not see the tears that were starting to build in her eyes once again as she blinked them away and answered the phone meekly, "Hello?"

"Montana?" Danny's voice sounded almost as unsteady as Lindsay's. "I, uh, I did it again, didn't I?"

As happy as Lindsay was to hear from him, she was not going to let him off easy. "Why don't you tell me what you did?"

"You know," answered Danny, "I acted like an ass when you last called. I wanted to say that I'm sorry about that. I should have let you finish telling me everything that happened, but I just got so upset, imagining him all over you that I didn't think before I spoke. I'm sorry I was such a dick to you. Will you forgive me? Can you forgive me?"

Danny's apology was like a blowtorch melting an ice cube. Lindsay felt that cozy warm feeling spreading through her heart again. She found herself unable to hold her tears back as she sputtered, "Yes, Danny. Yes, I forgive you."

"Aw, Montana, are you crying?" Danny grimaced. _Fuck, I did this to her. I made her cry._ _I'm such a rat bastard._ "I'm sorry. Please don't cry." His own tears started to run from his eyes, and he sniffed. "I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry."

Lindsay choked out, "Oh, Danny, I miss you so much." She slid down from the hood of the Vue and climbed inside the vehicle. She shut the door and locked it. With her free hand, Lindsay clutched her other arm tightly and she tried to curl herself up as much as the steering wheel would let her.

"Montana," Danny breathed. "I miss you, too. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"Ssshhhh," said Lindsay, her voice now hushed and soothing. "It's not your fault."

"It's not yours, either. I'm sorry if I made you feel like it was." Danny sat on the corner of his bed. "I just, I just felt helpless, you know?"

Lindsay nodded. "Mm-hm."

"It was bad enough knowing that I wasn't going to be with you guys, because it sounded like it would be fun at that restaurant, but I had no idea that Bridge would pull something like what he did."

"I don't think there was anyone more surprised than me," said Lindsay. She began to loosen her tight grip on her arm and sit up straighter. "Not like anyone was expecting it, of course, but I'm just thankful that Rich and the guys were really quick on the draw to do damage control."

"Yeah, I really owe them one. I knew that when I asked Rich to take care of you that last night that I was there, I was leaving you in good hands."

"Of course," said Lindsay. "That's Rich. Anyway, I had a word with Bridge a little while ago."

Danny felt his body go prickly. "Oh yeah? What happened?"

"He asked me to meet him at the Kerbey Lane, and he told me that boozed up or not, he was sorry for what he did, but that he couldn't deny how he felt about me anymore."

"So what'd you tell him?"

Lindsay reached across herself for her seat belt tang. "What else could I tell him? He's a good friend, but I love _you_. That's what I told him. He said that he knew, but that he wishes things were different. I didn't know what else to say, so I told him I had to go and left."

"Did he follow you?" Danny's guard was still up, but he was feeling some relief.

Lindsay smiled. "No. I was concerned that he might, but he didn't. All the same, I decided to go someplace where people wouldn't think I'd go, just to get away for a bit." The sun had disappeared behind the top of the hillside by now, and the sky was now brilliantly hued in shades of orange. Lindsay thought about how she would love to be taking the sight in with Danny beside her.

"Where are you now?"

"I'm in the parking lot of a mall just outside of town. What are you up to?"

Danny looked over at a framed photo on his nightstand. He smiled at the photo, which was the same one that Lindsay had on her desk at UT. "Just kind of relaxing," he said. "It's been a long day. I filed a complaint against that lab assistant."

Lindsay sat up in her seat. "You did?"

"Of course," answered Danny. "It's not my problem that she can't accept the way things are with you and me. I tell you, I've never run into any girl who's been as pushy as she has."

"Not even Cindy?"

Danny laughed. "Debbie makes Cindy seem like wallpaper. Ah, screw it. I don't want to talk about them. I have something else I need to tell you."

"Oh? What is it?"

Danny grinned, imagining that he could see Lindsay's eyes bugging out, her mouth dropping open, and her phone slipping from her fingers when he answered her question with one of his own, "What would you say if I told you that I'll be taking a week off soon, and that I plan on coming to Texas for a visit?" After a pause, he heard a dull clattering sound and Lindsay's voice faintly sputtering, "Oh crap! Sorry, Danny! Don't hang up!" and he chuckled.

_You read that right; Danny is going back to Texas! All together now… SQUEE!_


	18. Not What It Looks Like

**NExSW (Northeast By Southwest) Chapter 18**

**Many apologies for the excessively long delay. Real life and other on-line things have been occupying a lot of my time lately, and my muse kind of lost her way. Have no fear, though, I **_**will**_** finish this fic! In fact, I had written a quite downbeat chapter already, but I ended up hating it and starting over… twice… three… four… five… six times… **

**Season 6, what an ending, eh? Overall, I thought it wasn't too bad. Granted, Anna Belknap's absence (and Robert Joy and A.J. Buckley, too) from some of the episodes was frustrating, but there were some decent D/L and action!Lindsay moments overall, not to mention a lot of good Messer family moments in the finale. Can't wait for Season 7!**

**Godspeed, Jessica Angell, and thank you, Emmanuelle Vaugier. Angell and Flack were good together, and she does not meet the same fate in this story that she did in canon.**

**This chapter is dedicated to the memory of Art Miller (1947-2009).**

_**CSI: NY**_** characters are the property of CBS, and World of Warcraft references are the property of Blizzard Entertainment. I'm borrowing them for the time being; I intend no infringement with the writing of this story, so please don't sue. Original characters are the property of the author (i.e. me).**

**Chapter 18: Not What It Looks Like, With Apologies to TPTB and Season 3**

Three months had passed since Danny had made the announcement that he was returning to Texas to see Lindsay again, but he had not yet made the trip. Staff shortages at the crime lab, coupled with a struggle to save up enough money to comfortably enjoy his vacation, had made it tricky for Danny to schedule, but he was finally able to pin down a free week at the beginning of May, right before final exams at the University were set to begin.

Lindsay understood fully why Danny was taking a long time to get his vacation planned, but knowing why did little to completely assuage her feelings of loneliness. Since Rich was still in Los Angeles working with D.C. Rockwell on D.C.'s major label debut CD, Lindsay would spend time with friends like Mick, Midori, and Betsy, from gatherings at the Brancotts' home to shows where Daryl would sit in with musicians who needed someone with his talent. Lindsay had even regained a measure of normalcy with Bridge, though she decided to keep him at what she dubbed a "bent arm's length."

Sitting at her computer desk, Lindsay rubbed her eyes. She popped a bite of breaded okra into her mouth and took a sip of wine. She felt somewhat empty, even though she had spent an enjoyable afternoon of shopping in the SoCo district with Midori, Betsy, and a couple of other friends. Bridge had called during that time, and even though she hadn't made concrete dinner plans, she turned down his invitation to dinner, opting instead to get take-out from the Black-Eyed Pea and go home.

Lindsay had started the evening scrolling through the TV channels, but when nothing particularly caught her fancy, she turned to her computer to engage in a little World of Warcraft. Danny had actually gotten started with the on-line game around the time he and Lindsay started dating, and, with a little coaxing, had gotten Lindsay started playing the game, too. When Cindy had begun to monopolize Danny's time, Lindsay continued to play Warcraft while she waited for Danny to finish his time with Cindy and Jake, but she eventually decided to give up the game because playing began to dredge up feelings of abandonment and resentment towards Danny, justified or not. Her suspension of the game continued through her move to Austin, until after Danny came to visit, after which she began to play again, because they both realized that it would be another good way for them to interact while they were apart. Though Rich didn't share her enthusiasm for Warcraft, Lindsay found that both Mick and Bridge did. Every now and again, the three of them, joined by Danny when he was able, would form a party in the on-line world and play co-operatively.

Tonight, however, Lindsay was on the server by herself. Mick was out with Midori, and Bridge was presumably out with friends. Danny was still at work, though his shift would be over soon, but Lindsay believed that he would be going out, either to Sullivan's with Flack or some of the other guys. She figured that Bridge would find someone else with whom to share his evening after she declined his dinner invite, so she was surprised when, in the middle of a quest, he logged in and sent her the message:

_MattyB: Hey pretty lady. Fancy meeting you here._

She quickly returned the message:

_NYCowgirl: Hey you. Thought you'd be out._

_MattyB: I would have been, if you said yes._

_NYCowgirl: Sorry. Didn't feel up to it._

Lindsay felt compelled to add:

_NYCowgirl: No offense. :)_

_MattyB: None taken. :)_

Lindsay smiled. She found it oddly comforting that Bridge was now on-line and joining her in her quest. She still wished that Danny would log on soon, but for now, Bridge's presence would suffice. Her comfort was short-lived, though, when Bridge sent her another message:

_MattyB: Sorry pretty lady. Gotta run. Going to meet a friend._

_NYCowgirl: I understand. See you later?_

_MattyB: You bet. :)_

And with that, Bridge logged out and Lindsay felt alone again. She sighed and ate another piece of breaded okra. Lindsay looked over at her phone on her desk and wondered if she should call Danny. It was well after 10 in the evening in New York, so she decided against it and returned to her quest.

o-o-o-o-o

Danny shut his locker door. He gently clapped Frank on the shoulder, mouthing the words "see you tomorrow" when Frank looked up from his phone conversation with Ana and grinned up at him. Danny stepped out of the locker room and into the hallway. As he passed the one of the labs, he chuckled at the sight of Adam getting down to whatever was on his iPod as he was running some data. When Stella approached Adam from behind and tapped him on the shoulder, presumably checking on his progress, the lab tech flailed in surprise before he whirled around to face his supervisor, his face nearly as red as the roses that Danny had bought Lindsay months ago, when he flew to Texas to find her.

Danny's thoughts traveled to Lindsay. He'd talked to her twice already in the day, and he was aching to talk to her again, but he surmised that she was probably out with friends and decided to not interrupt her evening. Even knowing that Bridge had confessed his feelings to Lindsay didn't particularly make him nervous anymore; Lindsay had reaffirmed her love for Danny, and both Flack and Stella had each assured him that cheating was just not in Lindsay's character. Still, Danny wondered what Lindsay was up to. Was she out with Mick, Midori, and Betsy at a show? Was she somewhere with Bridge? In any case, Danny was counting the minutes, hours, days, and weeks until he would be with her again, and he felt his heart pounding faster as he entered the elevator car and pressed the button for the ground floor.

As he strode through the parking garage to the space where he had parked his motorcycle, Danny drew his cell phone from his jeans pocket and scrolled through his address book. He had hoped to take care of this little bit of business earlier in the day, but an especially perplexing murder case had eaten into his lunch hour and killed any possibility of free time. Finding the number he was looking for, he climbed aboard his bike as he pressed the button to dial the phone number. When the person on the other end of the line picked up, Danny smiled and said, "Hey, Cyndi, it's Danny; how you doin'? Yeah, I just got off work. Listen, you home right now? All right. Sorry to call so late, but I meant to call you earlier and time got away from me. I need to come see you about something. Is this a bad time? Oh, you're a doll. See you in a few. Love ya." Danny disconnected the call, now smiling broadly. He slipped his phone back into his pocket, buckled on his motorcycle helmet, started up his bike, and rode out of the NYPD parking garage.

Danny rode through the streets of Manhattan, heading for the Manhattan Bridge. His heart raced as he wondered how he was going to greet Cyndi. _Should I come right out with it, or should I get her warmed up for it?_ By the time he reached a row of brownstones in Brooklyn, Danny still hadn't made up his mind. He parked his bike as close as he could to a set of steps leading to a nondescript brownstone in the middle of the row and took the steps two at a time to the front door. He rapped gently on the door and fidgeted nervously as he waited for the owner to answer. The door opened, and a woman's figure was silhouetted in the light emanating from within. "Hi Cyndi," said Danny, reaching out to hug the woman tightly. "Thanks for letting me come by."

o-o-o-o-o

Lindsay heard a knock on her door and started in her chair. Noticing that the clock read 10:25 PM, she thought, _Who the hell can that be?_ She picked up her Glock pistol from next to her mousepad and advanced slowly towards the door. She unlocked the door slowly, then jerked it open, pointing her weapon at the person on her doorstep.

"Jesus, Lindsay!" Bridge's hands flew to cover his face, and he nearly dropped the shopping bag he held.

"Bridge?" Lindsay lowered her gun. "What are you doing here? Not that you're not welcome or anything. I thought you were meeting a friend?"

Bridge grinned mischievously. "I am. I just didn't say that you were that friend. I kind of got bored at home." He patted the messenger bag that contained his laptop. "If you don't mind, we can hang out here and play Warcraft." He held up the shopping bag. "I brought some chips and salsa. Unless you'd rather go out?"

"Oh," Lindsay was still a bit flustered from having had a visitor at what she considered a late hour. "Um, come on in," She stepped aside to let Bridge into her townhouse, thankful that she was wearing a T-shirt and capri pants tonight instead of a tank top and shorts. "I'll get some bowls for the salsa." She headed for the kitchen, tucking her pistol into her waistband.

"I'll get it," said Bridge, following Lindsay.

"No, _I'll_ get it." Lindsay steered Bridge back into the breakfast nook and motioned to the dining table. "Sit." Lindsay retreated into the kitchen and re-emerged first with two bowls, which she set on the table, and then with two glasses of milk, one of which she handed to Bridge, who had unpacked his laptop. "I'm actually glad you came over," she said, tipping her glass forward slightly.

Bridge gently clinked his glass of milk against Lindsay's and took a sip. "Why's that?"

Lindsay set her glass of milk on her desk, removed her Glock from her waistband, and set it back next to the mousepad. "I guess I needed the company. It's weird, but it's kind of like it feels worse, knowing when Danny'll be coming back down here, and it feeling like it's so far away."

Bridge set his glass of milk onto the kitchen table and hugged Lindsay tightly. "I'm sorry you're feeling down." He pulled back slightly. Keeping one hand wrapped around Lindsay's body, he picked up one of her hands and placed a kiss on the back of it. "I know it's hard, but instead of dwelling on how long the wait is until you see Danny again, maybe you should think about how happy you'll be _when_ you see him again?"

Lindsay nodded slowly. "You know what? You're absolutely right. And come to think of it, the first week of May is not that far off."

"You see? Feel a little better now?"

Lindsay nodded again. "Yeah. Thank you," she whispered. She circled her arms around Bridge, feeling the emptiness inside her give way to a strange feeling of security. It felt different from how she felt when she was nestled in Danny's arms, but it was warm and comforting nonetheless. Standing up on her tiptoes, Lindsay leaned closer to Bridge.

_Yeah, I know, I'm SO evil! But remember what the title of this chapter is, and it will all make sense in the next._


	19. Really, It's Not What It Looks Like

**NExSW Chapter 19**

**I know some of y'all are thinking, "What the $&#! is she doing?" Yeah, seems a bit contrived that I would seemingly decide out of the blue to start driving wedges between our favorite couple, but that's a job for the haters, and they do it poorly. Everything will all make sense in this chapter.**

**After the usual disclaimer that all canon characters are the property of CBS, all references to World of Warcraft are the property of Blizzard Entertainment, all original characters are property of me, and that no infringement is intended or implied, I now tell you that what happened in the previous chapter is… **

**Chapter 19: Really, It's Not What It Looks Like**

Lindsay gave Bridge a light peck on the cheek. "I appreciate your being here more than you'll ever know." She pulled back slightly. "Now let's get that salsa cracked open and let's get back to the game."

"You bet!" Bridge opened the salsa jar and divided its contents between the two bowls. He handed one of the bowls to Lindsay. "So are we staying on Barthilas, or are we switching servers?"

Lindsay set her bowl of salsa on her desk, and grabbed a handful of chips. "Let's stay on Barthilas, just in case Danny decides to join us."

o-o-o-o-o

Cyndi smiled warmly as she returned Danny's hug. "Anytime."

Danny grinned. "Aw, Cinzia, _mia cugina bella_, you're too good to me."

"No way. Nothing's too good for you, _mio cugino bello_." Cyndi motioned towards the couch. "Have a seat. Would you like something to drink? Water, soda, milk?"

"Water sounds good, thanks." Danny seated himself on the couch. He called to the kitchen, "Joey working late tonight?"

Cyndi came from the kitchen with a large glass of water for Danny. "Yep, and Dominic's sleeping over at his friend's house. He'll be sorry he missed you tonight."

Danny took a large gulp from the glass that Cyndi gave him. "He's not the only one."

Cyndi smirked and sat down next to Danny. "So what is so important that you had to come over right now?" she asked.

Danny chuckled nervously. "You remember my girl, Lindsay?"

Cyndi's eyes narrowed slightly. "The one you screwed things up with so badly that she left town?"

"Yeah, her. I'm going to see her next month, and…"

o-o-o-o-o

The door of the Brooklyn brownstone opened, and Danny emerged from within. He turned to face Cyndi, a wide smile on his face. "_Grazie_, Cyndi," he said, embracing her one more time. "You've brought me one step closer to being a very happy man."

"For you, _mio_ _cugino_, any time." Cyndi smiled. "I'll call you when I've finished." She sighed wistfully. "I never would have guessed that you, of all people– "

"Yeah, I know, shaddup," teased Danny. At that moment, he saw a stocky man come sauntering down the street towards the brownstone. He released Cyndi and strode towards the man. "Joey, my man, how you doin'?"

"Danny." Joey gripped Danny's right hand with his own and pulled him in for a quick pat on the back. "What brings you by our humble abode tonight?"

"Had to see Cyndi for some important business," answered Danny as he and Joey ascended the steps to the brownstone.

Joey greeted Cyndi with a "Hey babe," and a peck on the lips. "'Important business,' eh?"

Cyndi smiled at Joey. "I'll tell you about it inside, honey." She turned her attention back to Danny. "Ride safely, you hear?"

Danny straddled his bike and buckled on his helmet. "No way." He laughed before bidding Cyndi and Joey good night. He gunned the bike's engine and rode away.

After Danny had disappeared into the night, Cyndi turned to Joey. "Let me show you what Danny was here for." She picked up her sketch pad from the coffee table and handed it to Joey.

Joey's eyes widened at the sight of what was on the sketch pad. "Is this what I think it is? For that girl that he's been nuts about?" When Cyndi nodded, Joey whistled. "Wow. This is going to be nice, babe." He looked up, a bemused look on his face. "Heh. Your cousin Danny. Who knew?"

"I know, huh? I still can't believe it myself. She's got to be a very special girl for him to do this." Cyndi patted Joey gently on the shoulder. "Now let's get you something to eat. You must be starving."

o-o-o-o-o

Danny dropped his keys on his kitchen counter. He let out a yawn before he drew his phone from his pocket and dialed. "Yeah, Flack, it's me. Listen, I'll need to take a raincheck on tonight, all right? I'm feeling pretty beat. I just got back from Cyndi's. No, not that Cindy! Why the fuck would I go see her? No, my cousin Cyndi. You know, the one who married Joey Sussman? Yeah, her. Yeah, they're doing fine. No, didn't get to see him; she said he was at a friend's house for a sleepover. Yeah, good kid, Dominic." As he talked, Danny unbuttoned his green oxford shirt and shook himself out of it, then he unzipped his boots. "Anyway, I'm not going to keep you away from your fun. Tell everyone there I said hi, all right? All right, good night, man." Danny disconnected the phone call. He unbuckled his belt as he shuffled to his bedroom. The excitement during his visit with Cyndi had worn him out, and though he did think about going on-line to see if Lindsay was playing Warcraft, he felt so tired that all he wanted to do was sleep. Danny began to squirm out of his jeans, but as he flopped onto his bed, he fell asleep almost immediately, his jeans bunched and hanging off his right ankle. His cell phone fell from his fingers onto his bedspread.

o-o-o-o-o

As Bridge began the walk to his car, Lindsay retreated into her townhouse. She gathered up the quilt that sat crumpled at one end of the couch and carried upstairs to the laundry nook, depositing it on top of the washing machine. She turned and flopped onto her bed, sighing and chuckling over the events of the past few hours: after about a couple of hours of Warcraft, Bridge had powered down his laptop and headed to the den to take a break and watch some television. An hour after that, Lindsay decided to call it quits for the night. When she went to the den to tell Bridge, she found him sprawled on the couch, fast asleep and snoring lightly, with the remote control sitting loosely in his right hand. Amused, Lindsay cleared the breakfast nook before returning to the den and debated whether she should wake Bridge and send him home or just let him sleep. In the end, Lindsay took the remote from Bridge's hand, carefully removed his glasses and set them on the coffee table, then worked his sneakers off his feet. She fetched the quilt that was draped over her easy chair in the corner of the den and laid it over his body. Lindsay switched off the TV and the downstairs lights, then climbed upstairs to her bedroom.

When Lindsay came downstairs later that morning to make a pot of coffee, she had to stifle herself from giggling at the sight of Bridge tangled up in the quilt, curled up like a sleeping baby. Bridge had stirred when the coffee began to brew, but once he realized that he was not at home, he sat up with a start. Though still groggy with sleep, Bridge was embarrassed to have fallen asleep on Lindsay's couch, and even more so when he noticed that he wasn't wearing his glasses or shoes. Lindsay, however, seemed unfazed by Bridge's consternation, as she handed him a cup of coffee and an English muffin with butter and jam. When Bridge began apologizing for having stayed over unexpectedly, Lindsay simply grinned and assured him that though she had no intention of letting it become a regular occurrence, he was welcome to stay on her couch if he needed to.

Breakfast had been a quick, yet comfortable affair, and after Bridge had finished, he hurriedly gathered his laptop, all the while apologizing to Lindsay. He kissed Lindsay's hand to bid her goodbye before he started for his car.

Lindsay rolled onto her stomach, picked up her phone, and called the first number on her call list.

o-o-o-o-o

Danny sat at his computer, surfing idly. His cell phone began to sing "Brown-Eyed Girl," and he eagerly picked it up, knowing exactly who was calling. "Hello hello," he said.

"Hi babe," purred Lindsay. "What are you up to?"

"I think you'd know how tall I am by now."

"Smartass. I'm smacking you through the phone now."

"All right, I give up." Danny laughed. "How are you? Did you have fun playing Warcraft last night?"

"I did. Bridge and I missed you last night. Wished you could have joined us. You and Mick have a lot of catching up to do." Lindsay rolled onto her side to look at the picture of herself with Danny sitting on the nightstand. "So how was Sullivan's last night?"

Danny rolled his eyes guiltily, thankful that Lindsay couldn't see his face. "Ah, I decided not to go. I was feeling really tired last night."

"Poor baby," said Lindsay. "Rough day?"

"Kind of." Danny looked around his apartment, grimacing at all the tidying up that he was putting off. "I am very thankful that today's my day off. I just want to be able to do nothing but veg. And talk to you, of course."

"That sounds like my kind of day," said Lindsay, "but I've got a couple of things that I need to do to prepare for the week's classes. They can wait until this afternoon, though." Lindsay sighed. "I'm getting more excited by the day about seeing you again, Danny."

"Oh, you have no idea how excited _I_ am," said Danny. "I have something completely ridiculous l planned for when I go down there that's going to totally blow your mind. Kind of blows my own mind, if I do say so myself."

"Oh? What is it?" Lindsay sat up.

"Uh-uh," said Danny. "Not going to tell ya. And don't bother trying to drag it out of Flack, Stella, Mac, or anyone else, because I've sworn them to secrecy on penalty of death." He smirked devilishly. "You're definitely going to love it, I promise."

"Oh come on," Lindsay pouted. "You can't even give me a hint?"

"Sorry, babe." Danny leaned back in his chair. "I'm not going to spoil any part of it. Look, we can waste our minutes going back and forth about what this big surprise of mine for you is, but it's going to be a waste of airtime because I'm not telling you. Do you trust me?"

"Yes, I trust you."

"That's my girl. Hey, I gotta go. I just remembered that I needed to call my mom about something. I'm sorry."

"Aw. All right. I'll let you go for now, but know that I'm going to try to find out what this surprise of yours is."

Danny chuckled. "You can try all you want. I'll call you tonight, all right?"

"All right, you go call your mom. I'll talk to you later. I love you."

"Love you, Montana." Danny disconnected the call.

Lindsay rolled onto her back. "Hmm… surprise, eh?" Immediately, she began to scroll through her phone list. Finding the number she wanted, she called it. When the person on the other end picked up, she said, "Hi Flack," in her sweetest voice.

o-o-o-o-o

Danny sighed. The line about calling his mother was a lie, designed to get him off the phone so that he could take on one of the largest tasks in the surprise that he was planning. He hated lying to Lindsay, but he saw no other way that he could totally surprise her otherwise. He looked around his apartment and sighed; he would not be having the restful day that he had told Lindsay he would have. "Where the hell do I start?"

o-o-o-o-o

Lindsay clicked off her cell phone. True to his word, Danny had sworn to secrecy everyone that she would have thought to get information from. Flack, Stella, Hawkes, Mac, Sid, and even Adam kept their mouths shut. She laid back on her bed. _What in the world is he planning?_, she thought.

_The answer, and the long-awaited conclusion will come in the next chapter! That's right, y'all, I'm ALMOST DONE!_


	20. Start Spreadin' The News

**NExSW (Northeast By Southwest) Chapter 20**

**Before I launch into this chapter, I will acknowledge that what I have written will probably stir up a measure of debate. This, however, is pretty much the Point B that I had envisioned for this story from the moment that I conceived it. I was inspired by Danny's flight to Montana in the series canon.**

**At last! After nearly 3 years, 3 seasons of **_**CSI: NY**_** in which we saw Danny and Lindsay get together, nearly break up, get married, and start a family, after a horrific Season 4 that nearly killed this fic for good, I am DONE with this story!**

**In the last chapter, Danny said that he would have a "mind-blowing" surprise for Lindsay when he visits her. We all get to find out what this surprise is.**

**All _CSI: NY_ characters are the property of CBS. No infringement is intended or implied. Original characters and references are the property og me, myself, and I.**

**Chapter 20: Start Spreadin' The News, I'm Leaving Today**

Flack looked at Danny. "I guess this is it, then. Gonna miss you." He grabbed Danny's hand to shake it, then folded his arm around him in a tight hug.

Danny patted Flack on the back as they hugged. "Yep. Gonna miss you guys, too. All of you. Tell everyone for me, all right?"

A female voice announced, "Ladies and gentlemen, this is your final boarding call for Midwest Airlines Flight 204 with non-stop service to Robert Mueller Airport in Austin, Texas."

Flack watched as Danny turned, presented his boarding pass to the flight attendant at the gate, and disappeared down the jetway. "Good luck, man."

o-o-o-o-o

Inside the Welch Hall auditorium, Lindsay peeked surreptitiously at her watch. _Only 10 more minutes until I can get out of here and get some tea. This week has been four days too long._ "Does anyone have any final questions?" she asked of the students in the auditorium, seeing mostly bored or apathetic faces.

"I have a question," a male voice piped up suddenly. All eyes turned to see where the voice had come from. A male figure stood up, his head bowed down, and a Texas Longhorns cap sitting atop his head. The cap was incongruous with rest of the man's attire; light blue button down shirt, charcoal gray slacks, and matching sport jacket. The man reached up, removed his hat, and looked up.

Lindsay gasped. The man under the cap was Danny, who had moved into the nearest aisle and was now descending the steps towards the stage. Lindsay dropped her dry-erase marker and ran towards him. She practically launched herself into his outstretched arms and clutched him tightly. She breathed in deeply, taking in the scent of his aftershave mingling with his Axe body spray. "Danny," she breathed. She pulled back to look up into his eyes. Her trembling fingertips lightly stroked his stubbled jaw. "Oh my God. I wasn't expecting you until next week. Is this your surprise for me?"

"Well, it's part of it." Danny smiled warmly, relishing the feel of Lindsay's body against his. "Here's more." Taking Lindsay by the hand, he led her back to the stage. The gathered students murmured in confusion.

Lindsay's vision was blurred by tears of joy. She blinked, letting the saline droplets course down her cheeks. "Danny." Her heartbeat seemed to pound so loudly that she was sure that everyone in Welch Hall could hear it.

"Lindsay," said Danny, his voice quivering slightly, "I have been the biggest idiot to not appreciate what we have. You and me, we make sense, all right? I know I've made mistakes, and I want to spend the rest of my life making it up to you." Danny dropped to one knee in front of Lindsay, and she pressed the fingertips of her right hand against her lips, holding her sobs at bay. He paused to slip his hand into his jacket pocket and pulled out a small velvet ring box. "I want to be with you." His fingers fumbling slightly, Danny managed to open the box to reveal a pear-cut diamond set on an ornately designed band. "Will you marry me, Montana?"

Lindsay felt her knees turn into jelly, and she dropped to her knees, crushing Danny in her arms. The students cheered and hooted in overwhelming approval as Lindsay pressed her lips against Danny's. "Class dismissed," called Lindsay to the crowd. She continued to hold Danny for what seemed like years as the students slowly began to mill from the auditorium. "Oh, Danny," she sighed, continuing to stare at the ring in the box as she finally stood up. "It's gorgeous!"

"My cousin Cyndi, well, her name is actually Cinzia, but everyone calls her Cyndi… anyway, Cyndi designs and makes jewelry for a living, and I asked her to make this for you."

"She made this? This is lovely!"

"Yeah, she's really good at it. But enough about that." Danny removed the ring from the box and held it up to Lindsay. "Will you marry me?"

"Danny," answered Lindsay. "I want to, so much, but how are we going to do it? I mean, I'm here in Austin, and you're all the way out in New York. What kind of marriage will that be?"

Danny rose up to his full height and laid a finger on Lindsay's lips. "Shh," he said, before he broke into a huge grin. "Here comes the most mind-blowing part of my surprise to you."

o-o-o-o-o

Midori had just returned to her desk at her office when her cell phone chirped. She picked up the device and found a picture message in her inbox from Lindsay. Amused, she opened the message. Inside was a slideshow; the first picture was a close-up of a woman's left hand wearing a pear-cut diamond ring on the ring finger. _Nice_, thought Midori. The next two pictures rendered Midori incapable of coherent speech and thought; the first of the two was of Danny and Lindsay holding each other close and smiling broadly for the camera, and the second was more or less the same picture, except that Danny and Lindsay were both holding her hand out to the camera… Lindsay's left hand, on which there was that pear-cut diamond ring. As soon as she was finally able to speak, she hurriedly pulled up her call list and dialed the first number. "Honey?" she said excitedly. "Did you get some pics from Lindsay?" Oh, my goodness; this is awesome! I'm so happy for them! Who's going to call to congratulate them, you or me?"

o-o-o-o-o

Rich sat on his couch with both his notebook and his guitar on his lap. He hummed a few bars before strumming the same notes on his guitar. Smiling, he quickly jotted down the notes that he had just played. He was about to play a few more bars when his cell phone chirped "Go Go Power Rangers." Frowning, he picked up the device and slid it open. "What's going on, Linds?" he mused aloud before he opened the picture message. When he saw the slide show, he was so surprised he nearly dropped his phone. He immediately began to scroll through his call list. Finding the number he was looking for, he dialed it. When the person on the other end picked up, he began to chatter excitedly, "D.C.? It's Rich. Linds and Danny, it's official!"

o-o-o-o-o

Bridge smiled as he sat his briefcase on the passenger seat of his car. He had just stuck the keys in the ignition when he felt the light tickle of his phone's message alert from inside his jacket pocket. He fished his phone from his pocket and went to his inbox. There, he found the same picture message that Midori, Mick, and Rich had received. Even though a small part of him still hurt and tears rose in his eyes as a result, Bridge found himself smiling at the sight. _She looks happy_, he thought. _Happier that I've ever seen her. Still kind of wish it could have been me, but it's great to see her so happy. And he'd better do right by her this time._ He pulled a tissue out of the pack in his pocket, wiped his tears away, and began to tap out a response. After he pressed "send," he started the car, retracted the top, and backed out of his parking space. Though he had originally planned to go straight home after work, he decided that he needed to make a couple of stops first.

o-o-o-o-o

Debbie Fulton entered the crime lab. She wondered where Danny was; he had been absent for the past few days. The rumor mill had Danny going on vacation, which made sense. What Debbie didn't like about what she had heard about Danny's supposed vacation plans was that Danny was headed off to Texas to see that girlfriend of his.

_I mean, she's not even that good looking. Why?_, thought Debbie. She suddenly noticed that a small crowd had gathered around Adam. Everyone seemed to be chattering excitedly. Debbie squirmed her way into the throng to see what all the fuss was about.

Adam scrolled back and forth between two pictures. The first one was of a woman's hand wearing a beautiful diamond ring, which made Debbie envious at whoever was wearing it. Her envy turned to fury when she saw the pictures of Danny and Lindsay smiling and displaying the ring on her left hand. "What the hell?" she demanded.

A lab tech named Megan spoke up, "Oh my God, it's so cool! Danny Messer flew out to Texas to propose to Lindsay Monroe, and it looks like she said yes!"

Adam chuckled. "That crazy guy. I didn't think he could pull it off, but look at them. They look so happy together."

Angell was finding it hard to keep her emotions in check. "I'm so happy for them!" she blurted out, tears of joy rolling down her cheeks. Frank handed her a tissue.

Debbie fought the urge to grab Adam's iPhone and throw it at the wall. Instead, she shoved past the gathered group and began to stalk out of the lab, pushing past Stella and Flack, who were entering the lab with shopping bags.

"Debbie?" asked Stella. "Where are you going? We're going to celebrate Danny and Lindsay's engagement and wish them luck in their new life together."

Debbie ignored Stella and Flack's eyes followed her for a brief moment as she continued to stomp down the hall. "Eh, whatever. More Martinelli's for me," he quipped.

Debbie stripped off her lab coat as she neared Mac's office. Mac was locking up his office to join in the festivities in the lab. He turned at the sound of Debbie's heels clicking as she approached. "Debbie. What can I do for you?"

Debbie thrust her lab coat into Mac's hands. "You can take my resignation, because I quit, effective immediately." She turned on her heel and marched out the way she had come.

Mac watched as Debbie turned the corner. _Well, that saves me the trouble of firing her_, he thought.

o-o-o-o-o

Bridge knocked on the door of Lindsay's office. "Come in," chirped Lindsay's especially happy voice. Bridge turned the doorknob and opened the door to see Lindsay sitting at her desk, with Danny having pulled one of the free chairs in the office as close to Lindsay as possible. "Hey y'all," he said.

"Bridge! This is a nice surprise! Not as big as the one Danny just laid on me, but it's still nice," said Lindsay. "I suppose you got my message?"

"Yep," said Bridge, stepping forward to give Lindsay a hug and present her with half a dozen yellow roses. "Congratulations, y'all." He turned to Danny to hug him as well.

"Thank you," beamed Lindsay.

"Thanks, man," said Danny, smiling.

"All the same, though," said Bridge, "if you hurt her, I'll kick your ass."

"I know, I know," said Danny sheepishly. "I'm not going to screw things up this time." He put his arm around Lindsay.

Bridge stuck his hands in his pockets. "One thing, though. How are y'all going to make this marriage work with you all the way in New York and Lindsay down here?"

Danny and Lindsay looked at each other knowingly, before Danny lifted the edge of his jacket to reveal a police shield. "Meet the newest member of the Austin Police Department," Lindsay announced proudly.

Bridge's eyes widened. "No shit?" He took the badge from Danny, who had unclipped it from his belt to give Bridge a closer look at it. "Wow. I can't believe it. How did you pull it off?" he asked, turning the badge over in his hands.

"I got friends in high places, and they have friends," answered Danny. He sighed contentedly. "I just asked nicely, and now here I am."

Bridge handed Danny's new badge back to him. "Guess I really need to behave myself now," he joked. "Seriously, y'all, I'm really happy for you. Anyway, I have to get going; I just wanted to stop by to congratulate you personally." He gave Lindsay and Danny each a warm hug before he turned and left Lindsay's office. As he closed the door behind him, he exhaled hard. _I'll be all right_, he said to himself. He blew one last kiss at Lindsay's office before he started for the stairs.

o-o-o-o-o

The congratulatory phone calls, e-mails, and text messages continued to pour into Lindsay's and Danny's inboxes well into the evening. Betsy had offered her assistance with planning the wedding, while Rich, after getting Mick, Midori, and Daryl to go along with him, offered to play the reception for free. Everyone at the NYPD Crime Lab sent their best wishes, and even D.C. Rockwell had called to express his congratulations.

Lindsay's phone buzzed as it lay on her nightstand. Lindsay went to reach for it, but Danny gently stopped her. "Oh, no you don't." He pulled Lindsay's body up to spoon against his.

"It could be my mom," protested Lindsay feebly, as she rolled over to face Danny, pressing her body against his.

"If it's important, she'll leave a message." Danny sighed in contentment as he ran a hand lightly over Lindsay's curves. "My God, Montana, am I really here with you, or am I dreaming?"

Lindsay smiled. "You and I must be having the same dream, because I see you here with me." She lightly stroked Danny's arm. "It's going to be a huge adjustment for you, living out here. Are you sure you're up for it?"

Danny answered by kissing Lindsay tenderly. "Absolutely. Even though I lived all my life there, New York didn't feel quite right after you left, and I finally figured out why. Didn't matter if it was northeast, southwest, North Pole or wherever. I was lost without you."

"And now?"

Danny kissed Lindsay once more and smiled. "Now, I'm home."

_So there it is!_

_I want to acknowledge the following people for their inspiration and/or support during the time this fic was taking shape: all the fine guys and ladies at DLChem, Enigmaforum and yite12 at FF (I know you're not into D/L like I am, but thanks for the kind words and encouragement), Mr. K. Perry, R. Brancatisano, M. Austin, D. Cook, and the cast and TPTB of _CSI: NY_._

_I also want to give a round of applause to all you fic writers who can churn out fics like you're an assembly line, and especially those of you who can churn out multi-chapter fics in mere days and weeks. Y'all put my fic writing to shame, but I am glad to have made the effort. I bow down to you all._


End file.
